Alpha one in neutral spins in forward direction

[Luapm24]

Hi, I am having a similar issue with my Mercruiser Alpha 1. I recently replaced my gimbal bearing and bellows because one was leaking and I am in the process of putting the stern drive/ lower assy back on which I never disassembled. The issue that I am having is that I am hearing a clicking noise from where the shift bearing slides into the shift cable assy. I have taken this apart and reinstalled with no luck. When I removed the stern drive I made sure to put the boat in Fwd gear and when installing a have also made sure that prop is spinning forward and is locked when trying to spin in reverse. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks Paul

 

[southkogs]

Welcome aboard Paul: Please take a few moments to read our FORUM RULES.

I moved you to your own topic instead of the old one you were posting in.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy
Your issue happens quite often. When the halves are placed together the lower section must have the shift rotated so the prop will lock in the counter clockwise direction. Once the prop locks in place ten the two halves can be put together while keeping the shift foot facing forward.

Many forget locking the prop and then it will not shift correctly

 

[Luapm24]

Thanks for the reply,
When you are saying the two halves are you talking the upper and lower of the outdrive? The reason I ask is I never took that apart. I took the six nuts off slide the assembly off, did the bellow replacement and bearing and associated parts and then tried to slide it back into place and that is when I discovered the issue which I didn’t have before I worked on the boat. I did lube the drive shaft along with the two joints via the grease fittings and turned them because that section was rusted from sitting. Did I turn something out of place when I lubricated the joints? Thanks again for the feed back

 

[alldodge]

OK my misunderstanding, sorry
Can you explain this term shift bearing

clicking noise from where the shift bearing slides into the shift cable assy

Hey Bt Doctur

 

[Bondo]

Did I turn something out of place when I lubricated the joints?

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,...... You have to manually engage forward gear, 'n hold tension against the prop shaft,......
As you slide the drive on,......

If tension isn't maintained, it pops into neutral,.....

I use a bungee strap to hold tension on the shaft,....

 

[Luapm24]

Sorry, when I say shift bearing I am talking about the bearing on the shift lever that slides in to the 21080 shift cable slide. When you say to wrap a bungee cord to hold tension are you saying that I need to slide the outdrive out turn the prob into the forward position and wrap it as to hold it tight to the locked counter clock wise position before sliding the outdrive back on? With the way I have it on the boat right now,when I have the boat in forward gear and turn the prop I can only turn it clockwise but I am getting a clicking from the shift lever and shift cable slide. Same thing when I shift the gear into reverse I can turn it counter clockwise but not clockwise and I still hear the clicking, but when I shift the boat into neutral is spins freely in both directions with no noise. Both forward and reverse turn a little stiff and I get the noise but neutral turns easily with no noise. I hope that I am explaining this all correctly and appreciate everyone’s help,I have never worked on one of these before and had been dreading to replace the bellows and thought I was doing good till I got to this point.
Thanks again Paul

 

[alldodge]

Correct, FWD can rotate clockwise, REV can rotate counter clockwise (clicking)

The bungee is used to keep the dog clutch engaged during install, makes it easier. You can install without one, just keep hand on the prop holding pressure in counter clockwise

 

[Bondo]

and thought I was doing good till I got to this point.

Ayuh,..... Ya did Great,.... That is the normal operation,.... I misunderstood you,.....

 

[jruga91]

Hi my name is Jayme and i am new to this forum, i just picked up a mint 1989 Larson dc-180 Lazer with the 4.3L MerCruiser Alpha one drive. so tonight i replaced my starter and when all said and done i ran my boat with the ear muffs on and accidently instead of just revving the motor in neutral I revved it in full forward I immediately pulled it back to neutral and now i have a clicking noise in my lower end. also prop was in trailer mode. i guess my question is where do i go next also the boat has a slight vibration on acceleration before i replaced the starter