Alpha will not come out of gear! Help!!!!

[tkmichael11]

The boat is a '80 Sea Ray with a 228 Mercruiser and an Alpha 1 drive (I believe). I pulled the lower unit off to replace the o-ring that seals out water from the drive oil. When I put the drive back on, I had to remove the upper unit and mate the two before putting the entire assembly back on the boat. Well, with the sterndrive back together and installed on the boat, the control will not shift into neutral. Its very tight. When I pull the drive off, the control moves freely. I checked the shaft on the lower unit and it is mated correctly to the slot connected to the shift cable. Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Alpha will not come out of gear! Help!!!!

when you installed the upper did you force it together or did it just slide together?
with the drive removed can you move the shift shoe on the drive F-N-R?
was the ****er in foward when you removed the drive?

 

[tkmichael11]

Re: Alpha will not come out of gear! Help!!!!

When I take the drive off, the shifter moves without any issues. I referred to my clymer manual and it showed the picture of the shoe that fits into the slot, connected to the shift cable. It mentions the short side of the shoe needs to be facing forward. I removed everything and moved the shoe so the short side is facing forward, put everything back together and now it is in neutral and will not move into gear.

It goes together easily enough. The last 1/8 inch needs to be closed by tightening the nuts.

I am going to follow the directions in the clymer manual to ensure both units are in forward and try it one more time.

 

[tkmichael11]

Re: Alpha will not come out of gear! Help!!!!

Problem solved (hopefully). I checked the "shoe" and it wasnt quite seated where it should have been. A gentle tap moved it right into place. Shifts fine and goes right into gear.

Thanks.

 

[Don S]

Re: Alpha will not come out of gear! Help!!!!

You didn't have both the drive and the shifter in forward did you.
My bet is you still have problems with it binding, because the shift shafts are probably bent and things just aren't going to work right.

I referred to my clymer manual

That, is even a bigger problem

Go to the link below and download the OEM service manual. It's about 301 MB in size, but much better than that fire starter manual you have.

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mnetdata/SERVICE/CRUISER/Servmanl/04/cover.pdf

 

[tkmichael11]

Re: Alpha will not come out of gear! Help!!!!

Unfortunately it was binding when I bought it. It's no worse than it was, but you are probably correct in assuming that I forgot to put the shifter in Forward. I wasn't planning on taking the entire drive off, just the lower unit and didnt think it needed to be in Forward for that. Later on in the day, I ended up taking the upper unit off and may have forgotten to push the shifter forward.

In either case, it works and I can deal with the binding until it gets repowered this winter.

BTW, thanks for the service manual! I never really had much faith in the Clymer manuals, but it's all I had until tonight!