Boat throtle lever

[sti1471]

For the last 3 months I have been trying to get my boat to shift into reverse and forward gear with no luck. I can only hit one gear, but not the other. I have adjusted the setup using the service manual several times with no luck. So it is either the shift lever, or the cable and the cable looks good so I am leaning towards the throttle lever.

The reason I say this is because when I shift into reverse, the lever does not stop at WOT until it is almost at the 4:00-4:30 position, when I would expect that it should stop at 3:00 position in reverse WOT. Forward WOT stops at 9:00 position.

Since this happens, it appears that something might have went wrong with the lever.

So, to my question.
my boat has a mercruiser 3.0L, Alpha one stern drive. Can I use any type of shift lever I want to replace the one I have, or does it need to be a certain type? When searching for a replacment lever, what type should I be looking for?

Currently it is a side mounted single lever, with neutral cut out, and outdrive raise/lower switch.

Thanks guys.

 

[starsnstripers]

Re: Boat throtle lever

OK, Boat engine/drive year model make??? Need some info here to help

 

[Bondo]

Re: Boat throtle lever

I can only hit one gear, but not the other. I have adjusted the setup using the service manual several times with no luck. So it is either the shift lever, or the cable and the cable looks good so I am leaning towards the throttle lever.

Ayuh,... The Lower Shift Cable wears inside, causing excess Slop...

While yer controller could possibly be Bad,...
I'd Sooner think ya need a New Lower Shift Cable 1st...

 

[starsnstripers]

Re: Boat throtle lever

Did he edit and ad the engine info or are my glasses dirty? haha anyway i'd check the control and cables for eccessive play, move lever back and forth watching the cable ends for play. Like Bondo said their known for lower shift cable wear. Inspect all shift linkage, cables, levers for play.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Boat throtle lever

Did he edit and ad the engine info or are my glasses dirty? haha anyway

Ayuh,... Caffeine blindness,...??

How many gallons of coffee ya drank today Scotty,..??

 

[starsnstripers]

Re: Boat throtle lever

haha you know huh? uummm quite a dew, i didn't know coffee did that lol I saw a post the other day where you had to much coffee too. hahaha Same deal. ok back to topic, I'd lean towards free play wouldnt you Bondo? because usually when the lower cable wears it causes the shift interupt to cut engine off from drag or not operating the cut out swtch properly.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Boat throtle lever

because usually when the lower cable wears it causes the shift interupt to cut engine off from drag or not operating the cut out swtch properly.

Ayuh,... Diagnosin' it is the thing to do, like ya said above,...
Move the lever, 'n observe the shift/ switch plate movement...

When lower cable gets boogered up, they drag, causing the issue you asked about...

If the cable has worn into the jacket, No, it just can't be adjusted, like the Op's issue...

 

[cr2k]

Re: Boat throtle lever

But don't overlook the fact that control boxes need love (white grease) too.

 

[sti1471]

Re: Boat throtle lever

Sorry, here is the information.

It is a 1988 Larson.
It has a 3.0L mercruiser engine.
It has the MC 1 outdrive.

I bought the boat a few months ago. I removed the lower unit to replace the lower shift shaft. I put everything back together and remounted the outdrive. When adjusting the cables using the barrels and what not, I can get it to shift into forward, but not reverse, or reverse but not forward. It seems to be just a hair off. When it shifts into forward the prop locks, I then shift it to reverse and it just spins free but then Clicks in the other direction instead of locking. So it is almost locking in both directions but it just won't go. I have adjusted the barrel 1 turn at a time and retested but no luck.

The cables appear to be in good shape, but I know looks can be misleading.

The main reason I expected the control box is because the reverse seems to go to far by stopping at 4:00 instead of 3:00, not sure maybe this is normal.

I removed the control box from the boat and shifted it back and forth, but I am not 100% sure what I am looking for. on the back of the control box there are 2 cables. It shifts the gear into place, once it is past the forward or reverse neautral position, it then moves the throttle cable until it bottoms out at 4:00 position, so maybe there is supposed to be a stop on the throttle linkage on the carb or something.

I guess now that I think of it, if the shift cable stops after neutral gear, I guess that does not effect the 4:00 position issue since the shift cable is not longer being moved.

I have tried everything I know of with adjusting the cable with no luck, maybe I just need to buy a new lower shift cable.

If there is Slack in the lower shift cable, can I mount the control box closer to the dash to pull some of the slack up?

 

[Pete104]

Re: Boat throtle lever

Take the drive off. Try to put the barrels back where they were.
What shift shaft? In the drive? Or the bell housing? Why were you chasing either shift shaft? What was happening?

 

[sti1471]

Re: Boat throtle lever

Yeah I replaced the lower shift shaft, the shaft in the drive unit. I replaced the shift shaft because the old one had some of the teeth grinded off. I bought the boat from a guy, and he said the boat would shift into forward but not reverse. He said he had a boat tech look at it and said it was the shift shaft that needed to be replaced.

So I replaced the shift shaft and the water pump while I was at it. I am not sure where the barrels were since I have made so many adjustments trying to tune it. But after this, I am thinking the issue might not have been the shift shaft, that it might not have went into reverse becasue either the cable is bad, or the throttle lever is bad. I just need to determine which one it is.

I cannot buy parts that are not the fix as my wife is getting frustrated with the money I spend on "my projects" so I need to make sure the part i buy is the right one.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Boat throtle lever

It may not be the cable or the shift shaft. It may be that the shift spool is worn. I think this is how it works: At the bottom of the shift shaft is a crank #53 here: http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...=120&bdesc=GEAR+HOUSING(PROPELLER+SHAFT)+-+MR The crank goes into a slot in shift spool # 59 Here is a photo of what it looks like: http://www.sterndrive.info/alpha-one/shift_spool.html. That slides the gears back and forth to shift from F o R. If either the crank or the slot in the spool becomes worn there may be too much play in there to shift into both gears, if you adjust to shift into F there may too much slack to move the gear into R and vise versa. If you have the manual you can go to section 1C troubleshooting and at the end of the section they show you how to make a little gauge to measure the play in the shift spool. The fact that your lower ss was screwed up might be an indication of shift spool problems. Good luck.

 

[sti1471]

Re: Boat throtle lever

Yeah that is a good thought. I have the manual and I can print out the tool guide to use to measure the slack.

This very well could be the problem, however with the lower unit remove I can shift the gear from F to R by turning the shift shaft by hand and it does not appear to have much slack and locks fine.

But I will print that guage and make sure to be 100% certain it is not the cause.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Boat throtle lever

.
This very well could be the problem, however with the lower unit remove I can shift the gear from F to R by turning the shift shaft by hand and it does not appear to have much slack and locks fine.
.

That would be the case with a worn spool, because you can move it farther by hand than the total amount of the cable travel can move it. The cable can only move it the 12 degrees they talk about in the test (I guess that is how it works), so if you can move it more than the 12 degrees (by hand) on the little gauge than the shift spool is probably worn. If it comes out less than 12 degrees then it is probably your cable. Let us know how it works out. Good luck.

 

[sti1471]

Re: Boat throtle lever

If it turns out to be the shift spool, how hard is that to replace?

 

[stonyloam]

Re: Boat throtle lever

If it turns out to be the shift spool, how hard is that to replace?

It is way beyond my meager skill set.

 

[Pete104]

Re: Boat throtle lever

It's not something for novice to attempt. There is other things that have to be dialed (at least checked) in before you commit to the spool. The spool situation came to light in the late 80's, I'm surprised you may have one.
You won't feel the "slop" in the spool from the shift shaft. And that can have issues as well. Make sure the shift slide to shift lever at the bell housing is to spec. The slide fastens to the intermediate cable from the shift bracket. It's possible that the cable has been replaced before & wasn't done properly.
And don't think the control box is 100% either. Or the shift cable!