Omc Cobra shift problems---- 5.7 1988

[ab59]

Lou I'm not sure of anything anymore , but , that same adjustment is what I am looking towards as well. I am going to take all the cables loose one more time( including the throttle cable ) and re-set everything. I will try to get a close up of the control box cable ( upper cable at racket ) to show you that I have about 1/2 " of threads showing there at what is supposed to be some kind of Trunion . I adjusted it out so far when I was trying to find the correct " sweet spot " and now I am thinking that I need to take everything loose again and return the control cable adjustment to whatever makes the switch button line up with the actuating cam and then try to get the shift arm adjusted to achieve the correct placement . I need the shift actuator to kick hard enough to trigger the interrupter switch and so engage the ESA. At least that's what I'm going for.
I'm going to get this right . Somehow it feels personal now :lol: .
More video tomorrow to help explain my thoughts.

Thanks Lou---- A.B.

 

[blitz491]

Hello Gentlemen,

I'm a newbie to this site and inboard motors, but I have been following this thread for weeks now and I think this is my 3rd time reading through it again? I appreciate the wealth of knowledge and the input from all of you super cool! I purchased what I call a true barn find last summer and did take it for a lake run before buying it and it ran great other than a hiccup getting it in gear one time and had to manually assist by pushing the linkage to get it into drive which may or may not help in answering my question.

What I purchased was a 1987 Ski Sanger with the OMC 5.7 Cobra drive, the kicker to the boat is it only has 24.2 original hours on it! long story short, a local farmer here has a disabled son and they share a passion for collecting what I would call "toys" together. They have a large farm with a Airplane hanger full of collectible boats, cars, motorcycles..... a true jaw dropping place to see. The boat was sold to their mechanic when he retired and he only put it in the water twice before falling ill and passed away. The boat sat in his shop for several years before I was able to purchase from his daughter who I've known for 30 plus years. I have had it in my shop and changed fluids, plugs, cap, rotor battery and misc service items but the shifting issue has bothered me and after some research thought it might be the intermittent switch?

So before I felt I should ask a question I have gone through the thread and tried to eliminate the ESA system because I was told that was pretty common, after doing some testing everything seems to be working regarding that but what is happening is it is not going into forward or reverse at all? it feels like it is bound up and I read earlier that I should be turning the prop while trying to shift out of water on the trailer? so before I do anything else should I check or lube or remove anything on the cable at the shifter or on the outdrive end to ensure its not bound up before moving on? or just spin the prop and see if the dog gears will pop back into place? I jsut dont want to have one of those "Ooops" moments before I do something dumb!

Thanks John

Ill post a photo of my boat next

 

[ab59]

Hey John welcome to the forum :welcome:. You need to turn the prop to get the outdrive to drop into gear most of the time. I use a hoe to reach down and hook the prop and turn it when I'm in the boat and do not have a helper .
You need to start your own thread for your needs.
have a good one---A.B.

 

[ab59]

Here are the results from my last round with the boat. I can't figure out how to pause my camera so there are 4 segments to the video.
#1--https://youtu.be/Qco8Nob5DoM---
#2---https://youtu.be/rxcxINeqBJs---
#3---https://youtu.be/2Ylk327hiao--
#4---https://youtu.be/Rt712kjD268

Lemme know what you think----

 

[Lou C]

Here are the results from my last round with the boat. I can't figure out how to pause my camera so there are 4 segments to the video.
#1--https://youtu.be/Qco8Nob5DoM---
#2---https://youtu.be/rxcxINeqBJs---
#3---https://youtu.be/2Ylk327hiao--
#4---https://youtu.be/Rt712kjD268

Lemme know what you think----

OK watched the #124 vid where you try adjusting it different ways and each time its the same. Your transom shift cable returns to neutral slowly. My guess is that either the cable has too much drag or the bellcrank in the pivot housing is not moving freely. I think your ESA works because you can see it drop the rpms when it is slowly coming out of gear. When you adjusted it did you verify cable drag, and use the tool to hold the bell crank at 90*? Bellcrank moves smoothly? If your lower unit shift mechanism is OK as you say, this is the only other place that can cause what I'm seeing that I can think of.

 

[Lou C]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt712kjD268 this one....

 

[ab59]

Thanks for your reply Lou . Good thing I bought three extra outdrive gaskets . I will pull the outdrive and test the cable drag as directed . I had some kind of problem with the pivot bell crank binding at time of installation if I remember right and filed it down a little to make it rotate freely so you could sure be right about it being the bell crank . Will see soon today or tomorrow morning . Have a lawnmower engine repair to deal with first .
thanks again----A.B.

 

[Lou C]

aha well that makes sense, based on what its doing...

 

[ab59]

Outdrive off , cable drag.

https://youtu.be/hHYUqotxL_0

 

[Lou C]

looks like your cable is good. Is it possible that the bellcrank starts to bind...is there any play side to side? are you really sure the shift rod is going up and down without binding?

 

[ab59]

Thanks for your reply Lou--- the outdrive shifts fine without too much effort as long as I turn the prop when I shift . Goes into gear just fine when installed , it just want's to hang in gear before it lets go . You know , when I was adjusting it at the engine bracket and the before I removed the outdrive , I was able to get it to shift with authority into Forward gear and immediately come out of Neutral but Not in Reverse . The same goes for Reverse , I could get it to shift right and come out of Neutral but it would not shift out of gear to Neutral in Forward.
Before I removed the outdrive and after my last trip to the ramp , I did find a kind or compromise where It just dragged a little returning to Neutral from both gears . It seems like somewhere along the line I remember reading something about this very problem but I cannot find the article again. Would running the outdrive like this damage it ?
I just can't seem to find any problems with the bell crank binding either . The only thing I see is that because the cavity in the pivot is filled with grease that the black plastic cable guide seems to create a vacuum when pushed all the way in to the pivot making it necessary to pull a little harder to get it moving from that position.
Other than that i just do not see any Problems at the outdrive and Pivot .
I dunno. Going to think about it before I put it all back together again.
thanks again-- A. B.

 

[kpg7121]

looks like your cable is good. Is it possible that the bellcrank starts to bind...is there any play side to side? are you really sure the shift rod is going up and down without binding?

I once had to change the shift rod wiper on my cobra. It was a few years ago & i dont remember exactly why but in think it was dry rotted causing the rod to bind & hard shifting.

 

[Lou C]

That is a possibility in this case...

 

[ab59]

First , thanks for your replies--- Well guys after your comments about the wiper grommet I did check it out and see no damage or cracking anywhere. I did not try to lube it up as I was concerned that the rubber grommet ( wiper ) my be damaged by the lubricant and causing it to crack in the future.
I just finished putting the outdrive back on and torquing it . Now , Once again , I will take all shift cables loose as well as the throttle cable and adjust the bracket shift setup one more time.
After 25 years without a beer I almost drove down and bought one but it's most likely better that I did not.

 

[ab59]

Back together , adjusted to spec , went to ramp , same problem with a twist. Now after it came out of gear , I heard a single clunk . Did it twice out of maybe 15 - 18 shifts . Never heard this before. It is as if someone is sabotaging this boat at night or even swapped out the outdrive when I had it dismounted .

 

[ab59]

see anything wrong here ?


https://youtu.be/iyDxOI-9yD0

 

[Lou C]

Looks like you did it right!
How is your remote control...does it have play or lost motion? Could the cable from the remote control be getting sticky? I still have the original OMC control on mine and it still works well but some boats had cheaper controls that actually caused shifting problems...

 

[ab59]

Hey Lou-- My remote is a Telflex and is still pretty tight , does not seem to have much slop. Smooth as glass when not hooked to the bracket , then still pretty good after hooked up. The only thing that I can say is different about the way this went back together from original is the grease in the shift casing pocket. Is there any way that the grease could be causing the cable to return slowly ?
when I shifted the outdrive by hand when dismounted , I had to rotate the prop and push firmly on the shift rod to get into gear but returning to Neutral took NO effort at all . Seems like if there was any problem it would be shifting into gear not getting out of gear , but it is what it is.
I have been over and over this thing and don't see where the problem is . It seems that both the shifting system works great without the outdrive mounted and the outdrive works when dismounted but once they are bolted together they will not perform correctly. I just have to think that it is something that I am missing in the set up of the cables at the bracket or the adjustments but I cannot see what I am doing wrong. I guess this really does prove the little woman right . That that I'm a little crazy because I keep doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result !
There has to be an answer somehow somewhere , I just need to find it.

 

[kpg7121]

Hey Lou-- My remote is a Telflex and is still pretty tight , does not seem to have much slop. Smooth as glass when not hooked to the bracket , then still pretty good after hooked up. The only thing that I can say is different about the way this went back together from original is the grease in the shift casing pocket. Is there any way that the grease could be causing the cable to return slowly ?
when I shifted the outdrive by hand when dismounted , I had to rotate the prop and push firmly on the shift rod to get into gear but returning to Neutral took NO effort at all . Seems like if there was any problem it would be shifting into gear not getting out of gear , but it is what it is.
I have been over and over this thing and don't see where the problem is . It seems that both the shifting system works great without the outdrive mounted and the outdrive works when dismounted but once they are bolted together they will not perform correctly. I just have to think that it is something that I am missing in the set up of the cables at the bracket or the adjustments but I cannot see what I am doing wrong. I guess this really does prove the little woman right . That that I'm a little crazy because I keep doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result !
There has to be an answer somehow somewhere , I just need to find it.

I once sprayed down my helm shifter with some wd-40 because it was sticking a bit. It was a Teleflex & no problems after that. Worth a shot in your case? Don't know.

 

[Beachrights]

So have been following this thread since my 5.0 is having the same issue (Pertronix installed now stiff shifting) but I think you found the root cause but overlooked it? We all agree that the Pertronix does not mate with the shift assist unless the diode fix, CDI module installed or Mercuiser rewiring done right? And If I am reading this right none of those were attempted so maybe that's the root cause of your issues?

I was hoping to have tried the easiest of the repairs before writing this and try the Merc idea and if that worked then purchase the CDI unit. The Diode deal just seems like a fragile set up and will fail from vibration.

Anyways, sorry to hijack the thread but am only trying to help.