reavesga
Petty Officer 2nd Class
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2010
- Messages
- 165
The purpose of this post is to share my experience with my shift interrupt switch rigging. This is the assembly on my old 1972 MC-R that is mounted on the transom plate behind the motor. After pulling the out drive and doing routine maintenance (billows cracked) around midseason I had an experience where I went to back off the trailer and the motor died. I was not expecting any issues since the boat had been running with no issues. Well I checked my interrupt switch and sure enough it was triggered. To save the day and since the motor is only the 4 cylinder 140HP. I just unplugged the switch and backed off the trailer. Spun the boat around and handed the helm over to my helper and then plugged the switch back in since I did not like the idea of having to "force" the system through the shifts. Anyway, during docking, it predictably killed the motor. Now, to be clear, the motor was going in reverse, but then when I would advance the throttle on my boat for some reason the shift cable would seem to move a little more and that would be enough to trigger the interrupt switch. it has always been this way.
Before the reader jumps to conclusions, all cables are 3 years old, all routine maintenance is up to date, my remote control is an after market Teleflex unit. The adjustments have been per Selco Manual direction, forums direction, etc. All this to say I think all the parts are in good working order and I have tried to educate myself. BTW, on the day I did the unplug trick later in the day I was approaching the dock, shift into neutral and then reverse and then added a little throttle and all was well. No trigger on the switch..
So while I was staring at the system this afternoon thinking about the best way to adjust things I reached up and pressed down on the cable at a point about 14" towards the starboard side of the shift sector. This is the shift cable coming from the remote control unit. I did this while it was in reverse. Probably moved the cable vertically about 1" or so, just "wiggling" it around so to speak. Anyway, I noticed that the wiggle caused just a little movement at the interrupt switch adjustment and the switch sector piece moved back to its normal position. I found that by moving the cable up and down about 2" at a point 12" to 16" away from where it comes into the interrupt adjustment area I could get the sector to trigger or not trigger when shifting into reverse. For forward gear I have never had an issue. I suspect this is because forward gear is pulling the pieces together on the shift interrupt arms, where as reverse gear pushes the arms a part and the cable looses a little of its stability. Anyway, I installed a hook eye about 16" towards starboard that basically provides stability to the shift cable after it makes the turn into the transom area. This added stability to the cable is all it took to make the adjustment rock solid on the interrupt arms.
Just sharing this in case anyone else is having issues with their older drive and getting that shift interrupt switch adjusted. In my case forward was always rock solid, but no matter what I did, reverse was always the devil to find the balance that got me a solid shift into reverse but did not cause the interrupt switch to be triggered. You can not just clamp the cable by the way because the cable moves as the sector moves. I just used a hook eye in which the cable floats. The main thing this does it keeps the cable from flexing which is all it took to get a rock solid, repeatable, easy adjustment.
Before the reader jumps to conclusions, all cables are 3 years old, all routine maintenance is up to date, my remote control is an after market Teleflex unit. The adjustments have been per Selco Manual direction, forums direction, etc. All this to say I think all the parts are in good working order and I have tried to educate myself. BTW, on the day I did the unplug trick later in the day I was approaching the dock, shift into neutral and then reverse and then added a little throttle and all was well. No trigger on the switch..
So while I was staring at the system this afternoon thinking about the best way to adjust things I reached up and pressed down on the cable at a point about 14" towards the starboard side of the shift sector. This is the shift cable coming from the remote control unit. I did this while it was in reverse. Probably moved the cable vertically about 1" or so, just "wiggling" it around so to speak. Anyway, I noticed that the wiggle caused just a little movement at the interrupt switch adjustment and the switch sector piece moved back to its normal position. I found that by moving the cable up and down about 2" at a point 12" to 16" away from where it comes into the interrupt adjustment area I could get the sector to trigger or not trigger when shifting into reverse. For forward gear I have never had an issue. I suspect this is because forward gear is pulling the pieces together on the shift interrupt arms, where as reverse gear pushes the arms a part and the cable looses a little of its stability. Anyway, I installed a hook eye about 16" towards starboard that basically provides stability to the shift cable after it makes the turn into the transom area. This added stability to the cable is all it took to make the adjustment rock solid on the interrupt arms.
Just sharing this in case anyone else is having issues with their older drive and getting that shift interrupt switch adjusted. In my case forward was always rock solid, but no matter what I did, reverse was always the devil to find the balance that got me a solid shift into reverse but did not cause the interrupt switch to be triggered. You can not just clamp the cable by the way because the cable moves as the sector moves. I just used a hook eye in which the cable floats. The main thing this does it keeps the cable from flexing which is all it took to get a rock solid, repeatable, easy adjustment.
