Shift cable adjustment

[ntrueman28]

I got a mercury 70hp 3cyl and thr guy I got it from decided to cut the throttle and shift cables. i got a gen 1 set of shift and throttle cables from amazon and the throttle cable went on great but the shift cable for the life of me I cannot get it to work properly. im not sure which way the motor is supposed to shift, if the shift slider on the side is supposed to go forward for forward or backwards for reverse or vise versa, when I got it It was opposite to that and when I took the loeer unit it off it decided to switch on me but the shift cable in the control box was in the pull for forward config so not sure why it was the opposite. but thats besides the point, my biggest problem is that the shift cable will go fully in to reverse snd the level will go all the way horizontal but only goes about 25 percent or less into forward before the shift cable bottoms out on the engine side. when i have it fully in reverse it also seems like there is some thay could still go in. when i hsve the level in true nuetral the cable is already about 75 percent extended. no amount of adjusting will fix this on the engine side of the cable and the only thing I can think of is the cables are cheap and not correct or the control box is off but i cant see that being the case. if anyone else has any issue like this please let me know how it was fixed or possible solutions that I hsvent tried.

 

[Chris1956]

Mercury shift sliders move forward for forward. Set the engine to neutral, set the control to neutral and adjust the shift cable barrel nut (engine end), so the cable fits the shift slide position.

 

[Chris1956]

Mercury's throttle cables push the throttle closed. You want to have the cable push the throttle closed, and then add some preload to the throttle cable to help you feel neutral. Make sure the idle stop screw is set properly.