Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

[RCSConstruction]

After wrenching on my boat for two days straight, lubing her up, changing oil, installing the outdrive, new carb, etccccc...... I took her out last night and proceeded to the dock and waited for my wife. We got ready to go and I put her in reverse and gave her some throttle and went straight into the dock..WTF!!!??? I thought maybe i was having a "special" moment and put it in forward gear, so I tried it again, Bammm! forward again. No neutral either. Stuck in forward only.
I finally walked my boat out and went and beached it to investigate.
Found that a line was loose behind the throttle lever. A small piece had broken off and I found it on the floor. I can see two grooves where this piece was clamped on the cable.. What is this piece? Why is it plastic? Is it an easy fix? can I get a steel one like on my cable at the carb?
Thanks!

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Geesh RSC you ever gonna get that thing running.... Hows about some pic's

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Geesh RSC you ever gonna get that thing running.... Hows about some pic's

Ahaaahaa, you think that stopped me???
I only needed forward to get her up to 4600 rpm's @ 59.4 on the GPS...hehehe
I think I tinker too much..lol

 

[Don S]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Have you had the drive off for any reason? Any shift cable work at all? Was that the first time you tried shifting out of forward?
You could get that problem if the cable end missed the shift shaft when you installed the drive.

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Hey Don,
Yes, I did have the drive off. I am not sure what you mean by the "shift shaft"? Is that the tunnel the cable slides into to attach to the drive's shift lever?
I did use reverse when I unloaded the boat prior to leaving the dock.
Is this a sign of a bound cable? Bad cable?
What is the name of the part I need? It was a small round plastic plug. (at least that's what it looked like). It's so tight behind the shifter, I really can't tell how the dang thing comes off to get access.
Thanks again.

 

[Don S]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

I don't have a clue what your problem is, YET. That's why I ask questions first before telling you what I have seen happen on other boats.
Pull the plastic cover off the drive, and look at the shift arm. Remove the prop, and run the engine on muffs. does the shift arm move all the way in both directions. (don't worry about the shift linkage and cotter pin, that was for another thread)

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Hey don,
I pulled the shift cable back there (where the other cotter pin is) to put in neutral to flush this morning. That shift arm works fine. It's at the throttle up by the steering wheel. When I shift the whole cable moves not just the inner part that should. You can see the fresh brass and the two little grooves that were once held by that piece that broke. That cable that slides through the drive to attach to the shift linkage wasn't binded when I put it back on. I used it before putting it on the water to change props, so it was sliding fine through the drive. I even put a little grease at the little rubber collar at the end of the shift cable thinking it couldn't hurt.
When I was screwing with the throttle cable for the new 4bbl carb there was some tightness in the throttle handle but it disappeared after I messed with it a little.
Thanks for bearing with me here, I am in uncharted territory.

 

[Don S]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Make sure the shift cable is anchored in the bellhousing where the drive mounts up.

 

[hoof harted]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

boy that don's really on the ball ain't he? yo don how many smart pills do ya take a day?

 

[Don S]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

hoof harted, I take enough of those pill per day to figure out that your ISP address is the same as sea wolf ................ Hmmmmmm, must mean it's the same person, just a different screen name, trying to make everyone believe it's someone else.

 

[sea wolf]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

I have sent Don a pm to straighten out the issue. But, I wanted to let other members know that I am not the only person that has access to this computer. I will find out who the troll is & take care of it. I have been a member here for over 5 yrs. with nary a problem & I do not appreciate someone trying to make me look like a fool. My apologies to the other members for not being more viligent is monitering the use of my computer.

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Here's a pic of the piece that broke and the carrier it is in. This is right behind the throttle/shifter by the steering wheel. As you can see the plastic black piece is in two, it broke in half. It seems as if it was permanently attached to the shift cable. Is there a piece that will fix this or am I in for a whole new cable?
Maybe use some plastic glue? Do they make cables that have brass pieces instead of this plastic crap?
Thanks!

 

[Don S]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Never seen one of those on a Volvo type cable and shifter before. Got a picture of where those parts went?????

 

[RCSConstruction]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

Hey Don.
I can't get a camera back in there. It was sooo damn hard just to get my wrench back in there.
Basically if you put your head under the shifter to look at the backside, it was bolted to a plate. Both the throttle and shift cable were attached to it. When I unbolted it it came apart in two and the cables dropped out. The little plastic halves form a "barrel" that catch the grooves in the cables. The one on the throttle is still on there (the cable in the boat) intact and it is one piece. This broken one split right in the middle. Looks exactly like the one that holds the cable at the carb. but the one at the carb is aluminum or metal.
In a nutshell this piece holds the sheathing of the cable so the cable can move inside.
This make sense?
Need more info? I will try and get a shot of where it was, but again, it was bolted to the plate behind the shifter where the neutral safety switch wires are and so forth.
Thanks for taking a look.

 

[Don S]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

You remove those controls to work on them, you don't reach behind and hope.
Take a picture of the control that you can see from the outside. Maybe it's identifiable.

 

[ss9940_2]

Re: Lost neutral and reverse...arghhhhhhh!!!

You can take the shifter apart by putting the lever into full reverse & unscrewing a holding bolt from the front side of the shift lever (it'll form a hole when you put it in reverse), then get the plastic on the right side off and unscrew everything. Take the lever off carefully (you don't want to break those trim cables) and take the shifter out. Voila! If the plastic broke off, it means that you needed much effort to shift in the first place, so the either the cable was bad or a bending angle was too high - get another one! I replaced that plastic with brass some time ago and it worked, BUT the cable was so stiff it didn't shift at all sometimes.

Alex