Broken shift cable???

[zeezer]

Good morning to all. Had to get towed in last night due to a shifting problem. Went to put the boat in forward & all she would do is rev. Did the same thing for reverse as well. It actually kind of feels like it's going into gear, but all it does is rev. Felt like there was no prop. Wanted to see if you thought it was a broken shift cable, or possibly something else? The boat is a 1989 Wellcraft Nova 230. It has a Merc 260, with an Alpha 1 stern drive. It was fairly late when we got her on the trailer, so we didn't spend too much time trying to diagnose the problem. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Don S]

Re: Broken shift cable???

Could be about anything, broken shift cable, broken gears, bad coupler, bad prop.
Did you notice the temp going up?
Time to start looking/troubleshooting.
Check the drive oil, disconnect the drive shift cable from the engine bracket and see if it will shift into gear. Pull the drive and check the ujoints, etc.
If you do find metal in the gear lube, pull the top cover on the drive and have a look at the upper gears.

 

[zeezer]

Re: Broken shift cable???

Will do. I'll drain the sterndrive oil first to check for metal. If none are present then I'll pull the prop to see if it's a spun hub. I have a spare prop so this will be easy to test. Next I guess I can try disconnecting the shift cable from the shift bracket to determine if it's the cable. Then I suppose the drive comes off. How do you check the drive coupler? can you even see it without pulling the motor?

 

[zeezer]

Re: Broken shift cable???

An update. I think that I dodged a bullet. Pulled the prop & noticed that the hub was demolished! Put the spare prop on & will try to get her back in the H2o Friday. Thanks again for the tips.

 

[b00tstrap]

Re: Broken shift cable???

That was going to be my guess based on your mentioning it felt like it was going into gear. Good Luck!