Am I missing a bolt here? pic

[thunderroad]

I'm having trouble getting my 160 Merc (sn 2497444) to shift into reverse. At my nightly head-scratching session I noticed this place in the linkage where it looked like there had once been a bolt. Just to the right of the lower of the two studs that the linkage hooks to. What gives? I couldn't find any info that showed clearly what needed to be there.<br /><br />

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Am I missing a bolt here? pic

While your "getting into reverse" issues could just be cable adjustment, it could be a missing bolt. I once had to put a bolt in a guy's control in about that same spot. But he couldn't get his into forward, at all. He had to pull the cable by hand to get home, to where I fixed it. Find a bolt that will fit & try it. If it's better, you fixed it, if it's not, you didn't. Juts don't be right next to the dock or anything that you can hit, in case putting a bolt there keeps it in one gear or the other. Best of luck!

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Am I missing a bolt here? pic

I had the drive off this past weekend to grease the ujoints and check the gimbal bearing and the cable seemed to work ok. I'd heard the lower cable was a real b_tch to change so I was dreading that prospect. I'm gonna do the adjustment tonight. The shift interrupt has never seemed to work right and it appears the switch works in conjunction with this piece with the missing bolt. I wonder...would this be a bolt that needed to be tightened securely or left loose so it could pivot? There doesn't appear to be a bushing inside this piece.

 

[Haut Medoc]

Re: Am I missing a bolt here? pic

I never heard of a 160....165?<br />Lube the pivot on the shift plate & replace the lower cable....<br />It ain't that hard .....JK

 

[thunderroad]

Re: Am I missing a bolt here? pic

I'm finding that the 160 wasn't too common. As far as wiring and such, it seems to have more in common with the 140 than the 165 but shares the 250ci GM 6 with the 165. I think they only made them a couple of years (69-71?). Mine is in a 69 Formula F-190. Runs great though...and the boat is in good shape too. Sat for a lot of years but seemed to have been prepared for the inactivity.<br />As for the lower cable..I read some directions about how-to and it sounded like trouble for someone who has never done it. I'm still hopin not to have to replace it..but I'm not the lucky type by nature.<br />The more I look at my picture and think about it, I can't imagine that there needs to be a bolt there. It doesn't look like it could pivot if it were bolted there. But based on the paint being scraped off in a perfect circle around the hole, it looks like there was one there at one time...strange.