Bell Crank 1986 Cobra

[kminnich]

After five years in storage, I got my old 1986 Cobra Stern Drive (4.5L) up and running that is until I put her into gear! The motor runs flawlessly while in neutral. When I tried to put her into forward gear I noticed that the shift lever was hard to move forward; when it did engage it stalled out the motor. Did it a second time and it stalled the motor again. Did it a third time with more gas; heard some clunking noise from the rear end so I shut her down.

Took off the lower end & manually shifted the unit turning the drive shaft by hand & all seems well.

With the lower unit off, I noticed that I cannot shift into reverse from the remote shifter; it seems that my problem is somewhere between the shift cable from the engine to the lower unit.

My question is this: with the lower end off the transom, shouldn't I be able to shift from forward to neutral to reverse (without the engine running). Shouldn?t I be able to manually move the bell crank lever (I can't move it at all)

Since I removed the lower unit I noticed that the exhaust bellows has a tear in it right where it connects to the transom. Is it necessary to replace the bellows? I read somewhere that OMC actually put holes in the exhaust bellows to allow water to drain out.

I have never worked on an out drive before so as much assistance as I can get would be appreciated.

 

[drem312]

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

I will give it a shot...you need to isolate the problem a liitle better to see if the problem is from the shifter to the engine or from the engine to the outdrive, disconnect it from the engine and then try and shift it from the helm. if the cable is binding you might be able to remove and clean or replace, then disconnect the other cable and try and move the crank by hand that cable could be all clogged up.and yes the newer exhuast bellows have a row of slits in the bottom

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

More than likely its the lower shift cable. Was the drive stored up or down?

 

[kminnich]

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Thanks for the responses.

The unit was stored with the drive stored up but over the years it worked it's self to the down position. I found the problem: the shift cable, from the engine to the transom, has a brass guide on it at the transom side; a plastic shifter linkage (not sure what it is called) slides over the brass guide, in and out, as the guide moves in or out it moves an arm that is connected to the bell crank moving it up and down thereby moving the shifter rod up or down putting the lower unit into the proper gear.

Well, that brass guide had so much corrosion on it that it actually bound the plastic gear actuator to it. Took it all apart, cleaned it up; put lots of lithium grease on it and the shifter now moves smoothly!

Unfortunately, since the gear actuator was stuck in a certain position, when I went to test the out drive, it seems that the shifter was between gears and I must have screwed up something in the lower unit because I can not get the unit to engage the reverse gear (manually). It engages the forward and neutral gear just fine. So I suppose I have to tear it apart to see what is wrong!

Been reading up on the Clutch Dog which I am almost sure is the culprit.

By the way, I have read many post about pressure testing the lower unit but have bee unable to find out the procedures for performing the test?any help with pressure testing or disassembling and reassembling the lower drive would be appreciated.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Forget about lubing the cable. Its not designed to be lubed...replace it.

I can not get the unit to engage the reverse gear (manually).

That's not unusual. Try shifting while spinning the input shaft.

 

[kminnich]

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Re: Bell Crank 1986 Corbra

Thanks for the tip--did as you said and it engaged in reverse. And to think that I was just getting ready to tear the entire lower unit apart! Thanks again!