Cheers Scott, I’ve seen a number of past posts on shift cable replacement which seem a bit technical and would need the boat out of the water. I was hoping for a quick change of the throttle would be the solution.
you dont need the boat out of the water, however it will make it easier. you can do it in the water if you want. this is a VP AQ drive, not a Mercruiser.
with your AQ231, you should have a 280 drive. the shift cable goes from the helm binnacle controls into a hose clipped high on the inside of the transom, and out thru the transom shield and into the front side of the housing just below the transmission and then connects to the shift linkage under the cover.
to remove the cable, disconnect the threaded end from the shift cable. remove the 2 1/4-20 bolts from the shift cable retention bar. tie a piece of 1/8" nylon line to the end of the shift cable, then from inside the boat, pull the shift cable and the piece of nylon line thru the transom shield. now disconnect the binnacle from the cable and remove the old cable
feed the new cable thru to the controls, and tie the end of the cable back to the nylon line. fish the cable thru the hose with one person pushing from the inside, and one person pulling the nylon line
then after mounting the cable, adjust the shift linkage per the manual.
