1957 Evinrude Big Twin 35 shifting issue

[eolsen]

Occaisonally when first starting out for the day, the motor after being shifted to forward, would want to creep back towards neutral but it would do this with a slamming motion (not good for gears....). I would have to manually pull on the cable forward towards the boats bow sometimes to make sure it stayed in gear. So about two weeks ago I ordered new throttle and shifting cables the same length as the old ones and installed them. Throttle cable is perfect. Shifting cable worked great at home and when i got on the lake i had nothing but problems. I had to disconnect shifting cable and for the rest of the day i shifted manually without the control box. I tried the adjustment dials at the cable end at motor with no luck either. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[racerone]

This is a fairly common issue with these motors.----It is how many years old ??----Worked on by different folks over those years.----Start by removing the window on the side of the exhaust housing.----The connecter for the shift rod is there.---Any up and down motion / free play there ?---Possibly the clutch dog and forward gear are worn as well.---Not hard to check it all out for repairs.

 

[eolsen]

There is no play up or down through the exhaust window. If I don't use the control box n cable and just shift manually on the motor I don't have the problem. Wouldn't that tell me the clutch dog and forward gear aren't worn?
Any additional thoughts? It usually only occurs in the first couple minutes then I don't experience it for the rest of the day.