Omc Cobra shift problems---- 5.7 1988

[ab59]

hey Lou thanks for your reply--- This is getting stranger all the time and another reason I can't seem to get this thing right. day before Yesterday , when I was testing the shift linkage it did exactly as you described on yours. The " load lever " just kind of jumped a little and the detent stayed in the center " V " when shifted in and out of gears and I thought all was good . When I went to the ramp to test , it shifted in and out of gear at first just like it should but after about 4 times the " hanging in gear " problem began again . I began going back over everything and found that it was now shifting like it is now , detent hanging on the lobe and not staying in the " V " .
Something somewhere is just not right. Maybe something is not tight but I have my doubts although I will go back over everything one more time .I can't understand how it could change without adjustments being made.
One thing for sure is that the interrupt does not slow the engine . It all worked before I changed the transom shift cable .
I don't see any type of extra wiring like the diode set up so don't understand why it worked before either .
Also , it has become somewhat difficult to shift into Reverse from Neutral where it had shifted pretty smooth a few days ago.

 

[ab59]

Should I be able to turn the cable adjustment ( blue plastic housing that turns and adjusts the control cable at the shift bracket ) ( don't have a true " trunion ) when the anchor block is tight ? Don't know if t makes any difference but that is all I see that could change the linkage and make it shift in a different position .

 

[Lou C]

Just started mine up after its long nap. Cranked it over three times and the rebuilt Q-Jet fired it right up. I tried shifting it into FWD and REV and with the engine running, the load lever does move but not much, just a slight twitch not enough to trigger the ESA. And when its in gear, it centers back like its supposed to. As far as I can remember it has always been this way.

OK going to back to all you did:
1) new transom shift cable? did you measure the drag on it disconnected on both ends? should be 2.5 lbs or less measured with a fish scale. More than that and the cable is not good, a common problem with these.
2) did the bell crank in the pivot housing move freely, back and forth? Did you clean out all the crud that accumulates there and pack with grease?
3) when you had the drive off, did you try shifting it with the shift rod that goes down into the lower gear housing? The way to check if it is shifting freely in the lower unit....you get someone to either turn the driveshaft, or the prop shaft (this helps the clutch dogs align) and then you shift the drive with shift rod it should to into each gear with a little but not much effort and come back to neutral same thing. If it is stiff or won't come out of gear, then its a lower unit problem.

When I did my Cobra, I started with the drive off. Made sure the shift rod height was correct (this was off a bit) and made sure it shifted manually OK.
Then, disconnected shift cable on both ends, checked drag as per OMC shop manual. Still good even though the cable was on the boat when I bought it....in 2002!
Next adjusted transom shift cable with the OMC shop tools. Then finally adjusted remote cable. That was about 6 years ago and it still shifts fine.
Rebuilding the Quadrajet helped too, because it will idle at 600 with no surging once warmed up and will tolerate dropping down to 450 when the ESA gets triggered.

 

[Lou C]

Here are pics, the one with it in fwd is a little shadowy but if you look close you can see it.....load lever is centered with it in gear.

 

[PITBoat]

1) new transom shift cable? did you measure the drag on it disconnected on both ends? should be 2.5 lbs or less measured with a fish scale. More than that and the cable is not good, a common problem with these.
2) did the bell crank in the pivot housing move freely, back and forth? Did you clean out all the crud that accumulates there and pack with grease?
3) when you had the drive off, did you try shifting it with the shift rod that goes down into the lower gear housing? The way to check if it is shifting freely in the lower unit....you get someone to either turn the driveshaft, or the prop shaft (this helps the clutch dogs align) and then you shift the drive with shift rod it should to into each gear with a little but not much effort and come back to neutral same thing. If it is stiff or won't come out of gear, then its a lower unit problem.

When I did my Cobra, I started with the drive off. Made sure the shift rod height was correct (this was off a bit) and made sure it shifted manually OK.
Then, disconnected shift cable on both ends, checked drag as per OMC shop manual. Still good even though the cable was on the boat when I bought it....in 2002!
Next adjusted transom shift cable with the OMC shop tools. Then finally adjusted remote cable. That was about 6 years ago and it still shifts fine.

That is a great condensed version of exactly what I need to do.

 

[ab59]

Ignorance can be a terrible thing and waste A LOT of time. In researching more information looking for what I did or did not do right or wrong I came across this article that showed me where I made a BIG mistake.
In the last part of the article there is pictures of the adjustment tools ( jigs ) for the transom cable. I had been lining up the anchor to the center of the raised part where the nut should be trapped instead of trapping the nut and lining up the anchor with the line on the jig and so the adjustment was most certainly wrong and about an inch out of adjustment causing me all these problems. I HOPE.
I will soon see ------

https://www.nlamarine.com/pages/omc-...ructions-guide

 

[Lou C]

Yep the tools are the only way to get it right the first time, in that article they show you the one to hold the bell crank in the pivot housing at 90*, and the cable tool, but OMC also had a jig to set the shift rod height (I have all 3, got em from Crowley marine about 6 years ago). Hopefully that will help you to get it right.

 

[ab59]

WTF am I doin wrong ? Lou , I went ahead and pulled the outdrive mainly because when I put the anchor on the drive end of the shift cable I screwed the the teardrop shaped anchor onto the end of the cable leaving about 5/8 of threads showing because I bought and installed the original brass keeper on the end of the cable. I noticed that all of the articles I read said to just make the end of the cable flush with the anchor so I removed the brass nut and made the end flush .
I installed the OMC jig onto the bolts for the outdrive and lined up the bell crank , I then climbed into the boat and took the the engine end of the transom shift cable apart and re measured my work there and found that EVERYTHING is at the correct measurement .
Here is where another problem begins , When using the OMC jig for the engine end of the cable. when I insert the cable end into the jig I can NOT line the trunion up the the center of the mark because I run out of threads before I can center it up.

short clip @----

https://youtu.be/KvxioOj1UI8

 

[ab59]

I have been looking through endless articles looking for the proper shift rod height so that I can put this outdrive back on . I saw the info somewhere today but can not seem to find it again !
If someone knows what it is let me know . thanks. there seems to be 1/2 " difference between the where the Jig holds the bell crank and the center of the forks on the outdrive when in Neutral position , so i would like to know if there is an adjustment that needs to be made.
The current height is 6 15/16 " and 1/2 " taller than where the jig holds the bell crank.


thanks

 

[ab59]

ok found it ---7 13/64. If we call my current Height 7 that leaves a difference of about 3/16 +1/64 . When I took the anode off to get to the base of the plate that the shift rod goes through , I noticed that there is no available adjustment nut or threads showing so I am putting this thing back together tomorrow as it is. I don't want to split the case if I don't absolutly have to . If I did make the adjustment that would put the shift rod even higher than the bell crank being held in Neutral position by the jig and would be a difference of about 3/4 " so I'm going to leave it alone . I should be able to adjust the difference at the shift bracket , if not , speak up before I put this back together. This is my last gasket.

 

[MRS]

When you adjust the shift rod you have to split the case not hard to do. The shaft is threaded so you turn the shaft itself plus you must turn the shaft side ways to make clearance to pull the case apart I take it you do not have a omc manual it is all in there makes life easier.

 

[ab59]

I have a manual online but I find many things are confusing and difficult to understand sometimes. I gather information from many different sources and some are in direct conflict but written by dependable sources so I keep looking for a consensus before I make a commitment to that information.
Do you think that the 3/16" difference is enough to cause a problem ? It would make the difference between the jig position of the bell crank and the forks of the shift rod even further apart . I keep thinking that I never had any problem before I changed the transom shift cable and installed a new one. Guess I should have left it alone but since I already had everything apart replacing the transom it was a good time to service it.

 

[Lou C]

You ran out of threads on the cable to adjust the trunnion, but is the cable an OE cable or aftermarket? Did you have to install the cable end (plastic black piece) onto the cable with the 2 retainers, did you get it all the way on?

3/16ths is a lot nearly a quarter inch....did you check it like in this pic?

 

[ab59]

mornin Lou-- I did buy the correct cable , I checked yesterday and the numbers were correct but you are right I did not pay the double price for an OEM cable .
I had the engine end of the cable correctly assembled and took it apart and re measured everything and made sure to get the cable all the way through the site window in the end of the black plastic.
I keep re reading the adjustment sequence for the TSC and it makes no reference as to the trunion lining up with the jig but says to hook up the control cable first while in forward gear and making sure to pull all the slack out of the cable upon assembly. Once that is done the lower ie TSC is mounted and the trunion is then adjusted to fit the socket , Right ? So if I am reading it right the TSC trunion is not set with the jig but only the overall length of the hardware on the end of the cable is set by the jig. I think. If i'm wrong again let me know. The OMC jigs came with the aftermarket cable .
I finally found the picture that you posted here online where I could magnify it and see where the line went at the base. I was getting the measurement for the shift rod height from the base of where the rod goes through the plate and not from the top of the housing. When measured from the top of the housing I get about 7 316 " so I think it's good as it is.
It kinda sticks in my mind that there is a 1/2 " difference between the height of where the jig holds the bell crank and the height of the center of the shift forks but I guess it doesn't matter . Guess it's already figured into the assembly .
thanks ---A.B.

 

[Lou C]

ok raining today, but tomorrow when it clears up I will try to get a close up pic of the cable on mine with the trunnion/threads. Sounds like your shift rod height is OK. I am going to pull out my OMC tools in the garage today and look at them, I am pretty sure that I had to put the cable in the jig and with the black cable end in one end, and the nut at the other end in that recess, I could turn the trunnion so it matched up with the dimension it should be. If you can't do this, I wonder if you might have the wrong cable, or it was made wrong! What company made it? GLM or Sierra? They have been known to make things wrong!

If you still have your old cable, pull it out and compare the part where the threads are just out of curiosity.....

PS you were talking about a cable retainer that goes on the end of the cable where it comes out the shift guide...in the pivot housing....well on mine....they way I did it was....installed the 90* jig on the pivot housing to hold the bell crank right...had the cable retainer loose...so the cable could move...then went up on the engine bracket...and set the cable into the jig and made sure the trunnion was set right, then put the trunnion into the load lever and installed the cable end on the engine bellcrank...then went back down to the shift guide sticking out of the pivot housing, screwed the retainer all the way on and tightened the bolt that holds it to the guide....is that what you did?


http://www.midnight-wolf.com/Cobra_Shift_Cable_Install.pdf

start with Transom shift cable adjustment step 10....
I know its confusing...keep at it....

 

[ab59]

thanks for your reply Lou-- Sounds like it . I have been following all the steps by wolfs description for assembly. I am about to install the outdrive.
Question , I have been filling the area of the shift cable at the gimbal with grease at reassembly , should I be also filling the drive side cavity full of grease as well ?? That's a lot of grease .
I hate to admit this but I believe my problems begin where the cables are in the bracket and the bracket adjustments begin. Ie - loosing the nut and pushing down on the cable end etc. This time around I am going to go sentence by sentence performing these adjustments. I had everything working once for about 4 shifts and then everything went to h#ll in a hand basket . I did find that the upper ie controller shift cable trunion was able to turn and may have been moving the adjustment each time I shifted gears . I have addressed that problem and will not happen again.
All adjustments will be Exactly as written this time around with no shortcuts .
I do need to know about the grease though.
thanks A.B.

 

[Lou C]

What I do for the bell crank area in the pivot housing is put some motor oil on the bel lcrank shaft where it passes through the housing and then I pack the recess where the bell crank and the shift guide fit with OMC/Evinrude triple guard grease. Then put a good coat of OMC gasket sealer on the sealing surfaces of the upper gear housing and the pivot housing and also both sides of the gasket. That keeps water out of the pocket where the bell crank lives. If you look closely you can see the blue grease in this pic....

 

[ab59]

Thanks Lou , got the grease in there slopped the gasket sealer everywhere , I mean , on both sides of the gasket and on the bolts before I put the nuts on. A quick torque and it's back to the battle of adjustment at the engine bracket.

 

[ab59]

I am just about done with this pile of ****. After removing the outdrive again , adjusting the TSC shift cable to " Flush with the anchor , checking the shift rod height , lining everything up with the correct jigs and then re assembling I can no longer shift into forward gear unless I pull so hard on the cable that I can feel it stretch . All this backtracking to get everything right and it's now worse than it was before I did everything EXACTLY BY THE BOOK . I could manually shift the lower into Forward , Neutral and Reverse before I " fixed " everything to book spec.
This will without a doubt be my last and only Sterndrive boat.

 

[kpg7121]

I am just about done with this pile of ****. After removing the outdrive again , adjusting the TSC shift cable to " Flush with the anchor , checking the shift rod height , lining everything up with the correct jigs and then re assembling I can no longer shift into forward gear unless I pull so hard on the cable that I can feel it stretch . All this backtracking to get everything right and it's now worse than it was before I did everything EXACTLY BY THE BOOK . I could manually shift the lower into Forward , Neutral and Reverse before I " fixed " everything to book spec.
This will without a doubt be my last and only Sterndrive boat.

I'm wondering if you have a bad cable. It happens. You seem to be doing everything you can do as far as the adjustments go. Can you exchange the cable for a new one? I know that sucks but if it was me I'd get a new cable. Best of luck!