Out of water running

[ccoon520]

So I am trying to adjust my shift cable and double check that it is correct before hogging up a boat ramp for an hour because the boat won't shift into gear.

I am trying to double check my work and have adjusted the stern shift linkage to 6" from the center of the barrel to the center of the pin hole (while in WOT fwd) and have adjusted the control linkage by moving the barrel until the pin easily inserts (while in WOT fwd) and then spun the barrel 4 full turns AWAY from the end of the plastic piece as stated in the manual and online videos.

Here is my dilemma, I want to double check my work but the boat is out of the water. I have read on this forum that the kill switch rocker on the motor does not work without the back pressure, torque, force (Whatever it is called) from water surrounding it. Is this correct? Am I unable to put the boat in gear while out of the water?

Trying to avoid hogging a ramp spot to trouble shoot the boat.

 

[ccoon520]

Forgot to mention, it is a 351W alpha one gen I motor and stern drive.

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... It'll go into gear, but won't come outa gear,....

 

[ccoon520]

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... It'll go into gear, but won't come outa gear,....

I don't follow your meaning. It looks like the shift interrupter won't go back to the middle position so it would just kill the engine entirely. Is there something I am missing?

 

[Grub54891]

If you are having shifting issues, and adjustments don't work, you need a new lower shift cable.

 

[ccoon520]

If you are having shifting issues, and adjustments don't work, you need a new lower shift cable.

It has a brand new lower shift cable. The boat came with the outdrive and bellows off, but it had a new shift cable assembly and I installed it when I reassembled the outdrive. This is why I am confused because the manual has details on how to trim the shift cable, but the directions in the kit said do not trim the cable.

I did not trim the cable and am following the instructions on the adjustment of the shift cable but cannot seem to this out. The outdrive will shift into forward when I push the cable in. Then I set the distance of 6" as described, and I will set the upper shift cable as outlined in the A1 Shift Cable Adjust PDF that I found on an old post from like '09.

Then when I pull the shift lever into neutral the outdrive shifts to neutral, when I shift to reverse it will go into reverse but then I go back to neutral and it is still in reverse, and then forward puts it into neutral. I am at a loss of where I am going wrong.

 

[ccoon520]

Ayuh,..... Welcome Aboard,..... It'll go into gear, but won't come outa gear,....

Ok doing some more reading I understand that the switch should only engage when going into neutral and under load. the issue I have is that the switch activates when trying to go from neutral into forward and from neutral into reverse out of water. I just replaced the shift cable and followed the instructions leading me to believe that I did it correctly. Are there any troubleshooting tips you have or do I have to pull the outdrive and work forwards from there?

 

[ccoon520]

In further fiddling I pulled the out drive back off and found out that I forgot to back out the retaining screw on the shift lever coming out of the bell housing. I backed it off a half turn as instructed in the installation instructions. The drive now goes into forward gear no problem and does not hit the interrupt when going into forward. I have some fine tuning to do on the shift mechanism but thought I'd close this thread with what I found. Thanks for all the help and sorry for the dumb questions.

 

[Grub54891]

There are no dumb questions. You had an issue and wanted it resolved. And you found what was happening by yourself. Keep the questions coming, if you make no mistakes, you ain't doing nothin' lol

 

[achris]

Forgot to mention, it is a 351W alpha one gen I motor and stern drive.

A few questions.
Year of engine?
Merc stopped using Ford engines in 1977, and the Alpha One wasn't released until 1986... Please clear this up for us. Are you using a MC transom assembly with a A1 drive? or, what? Is this a FrankenMerc?

Chris........

 

[ccoon520]

A few questions.
Year of engine?
Merc stopped using Ford engines in 1977, and the Alpha One wasn't released until 1986... Please clear this up for us. Are you using a MC transom assembly with a A1 drive? or, what? Is this a FrankenMerc?

Chris........

It appears to be original with the boat. So maybe an MC-1. From what I can find it is referenced as a prealpha or alpha 1 gen 1. I don't know the exact history of the drives or all of the jargon yet.

 

[achris]

Ok, first piece of jargon you need to 'unlearn' is prealpha. There's no such thing as a prealpha drive. There's MC1, R, MR, Alpha One and Alpha One Gen II. There's also the Bravos and TR drives and a whole lot more, but there's no prealpha....

Have a look in the sticky section and you'll find an absolute plethora of posts and articles which will fill you in on what you have and how to identify it.

Chris.