shiftty rod cobra omc

[XZENON]

hey all,love this site !i.ve been searching all day on here for a hint to my difficult shift lever on my outdrive on an 89 2.3 omc cobra ? i removed the outdrive in figuring i was replacing the shift cable cause it was froze up?but to my surprise the cable was red and in new cond.worked very freely? so then on to the outdrive shift rod and sure enough very stiff?it.s never made a funny noise or vibration: and always serviced ,the oil looked good as i drained it ,no extra metal shavings? so a stiff shifter rod what to do ?any advice i would appreciate,my manual is comming from a local boat shop ,but still a week out

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: shiftty rod cobra omc

That rod takes quite a bit of force to actuate without the lever actions attached, it nearly undoable to grab it by hand and expect to shift the gears, I'm thinking your problem lies somewhere else. I'm not saying you can't shift it by simply grabbing the rod with your hand it's just difficult. I'm assuming your drive is off, does the shift lever actuate with ease now? It the cable and shift rod settings are off even just a tad bit can cause difficultys, everything has to be dead on, so do get a factory service manual and follow it to the T.

 

[XZENON]

Re: shiftty rod cobra omc

thanks for a quick reply!i live in washington state and the three months a year we can acctually use it [my wife is a fair weather boater?]i try to be prepared.the shifter from day one has been tricky to disengauge from foward gear,and the day it stranded me in middle of a lake with a 1000 water skier's:redface:i was shocked,i had to remove the red cable that leads from the engine to the outdrive and with a cresent wrench push in the cable with quite a bit of force!but the moment i heard her slip into gear i was relievedwe idled back to the launch and trailered up.
and yesterday removed the outdrive and checked the cable ,moved with ease,and had ample grease, built a 2x4 stand,and started my inspection process? is it possible this rod inside the outdrive is bent? it moves thru the gears while rotating the proppeler,but real stiff,[real stiff] i'm no marine mechanic but i rebuild automotive trannsmissions and i'm trying to apply this knoweledge? till the manual comes i'm sittin idle,so i figure i'de try this to see if there were any other simmilar post?i was looking for an exploded diagram on here but couldnt find one? thanks again for your reply!!the people on here are what boatin' is all about!good people ,good times