engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

[forfun]

Hello,
I recently put the drive back together after I changed impeller, bellows and put in new shift cable. Tested on muffs and it shifts fine in forward, but when I shift it in reverse, motor stalls. I put it in reverse and rotated the prop counter clockwise by hand, it ratchets hard. It locks and does not move clockwise. My understanding was that it should move ccw freely when in reverse. I also checked and the shift shaft is seated in the shoe. My question is, do you guys think this is shift cable adjustment problem or do I need to take the drive apart to check if upper and lower shift shaft splines are seated properly? Thanks.

 

[alldodge]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

Hello,
I recently put the drive back together after I changed impeller, bellows and put in new shift cable. Tested on muffs and it shifts fine in forward, but when I shift it in reverse, motor stalls. I put it in reverse and rotated the prop counter clockwise by hand, it ratchets hard. It locks and does not move clockwise. My understanding was that it should move ccw freely when in reverse. I also checked and the shift shaft is seated in the shoe. My question is, do you guys think this is shift cable adjustment problem or do I need to take the drive apart to check if upper and lower shift shaft splines are seated properly? Thanks.

Sounds like you need to pull it back apart, it should not be hard. As you say in REV the drive will ratchet CCW and lock CW. Does it do the same thing if you disconnect the shift cable and move it by hand?

 

[forfun]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

I removed the cable from shift plate and tried it. I also pulled the lower drive apart and reseated the upper and lower shift shafts while keeping prop locked in FFW. While cable is removed, if i pull the cable all the way out then prop ratchets hard ccw in reverse. When my buddy rotated the prop ccw while i had the cable pulled out all the way, it tries to pull the cable in. When I push the cable back in a little bit then it rotates ccw ok, little to none ratcheting. But there is very fine adjustment between when it stops ratcheting and comes out of reverse. I put the cable back on the shift plate as per instructions, 6 in distance between brass barrel and the eye of plastic tube, hard ratcheting again in reverse. Next, took the cable off and adjusted it where reverse worked fine. Guess what, now prop ratchets hard CW in FWD gear. I tried several different times but couldn't get it to work. Summary, when I adjusted the cable where reverse works, forward doesn't work. So i am able to make either reverse to work or forward to work.

Lost another nice weekend, wife and kids are not happy. I would appreciate any ideas you guys may have.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

OK, in forward gear the prop will ratchet clockwise and will be locked counterclockwise. in reverse the prop will ratchet counterclockwise and lock clockwise.

 

[forfun]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

Here is one picture i took.

 

[forfun]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

Yes, but it ratchets quite hard. when i was testing on muffs earlier, when i shifted in reverse the engine would stall with a loud knock at the prop. Thats when i rotated the prop by hand and noticed that it was ratcheting hard.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

that is fwd gear, prop locks CCW and ratches CW. this is normal

 

[tazrig]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

here are a set of merc manual intructions for an Alpha 1 gen 1. start from step one and go from there. Also make sure the cable isn't kinked or isn't binding at all as it has to take twists and turns to get to the shift.

View attachment A1 Shift Cable Adjust.pdf

 

[forfun]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

Thanks guys i will go through these one more time. Just so i am clear, if prop ratchets HARD ccw in reverse, is it normal?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

NO ,if the prop locks CW in reverse, that's normal. it will ratchet CCW. And if the prop locks CCW in fwd, that's normal, and it will ratchet CW
You want the prop to be locked in the proper direction. then make all the adjustments

 

[forfun]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

I will attempt adjusting one more time today or tomorrow, thanks bt doctor. I have one follow on question, i did not touch the upper shift cable, i only replaced the lower shift cable. But instructions call for adjusting upper shift cable as well. Do you think I should try adjusting upper shift cable as well?

 

[tazrig]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

Yes. They work together as a pair. You may well have a stretched out upper cable and need to replace that one as well. If the upper cable is adjusted to spec, you have just replaced the lower cable and it is not kinked, (disconnect it from the engine and the inner wire slides freely) you have a standard rotation drive, (propellor rotates clockwise to push the boat forward) and you are still having problems, then the upper shift cable would be the next logical suspect. If you can't adjust it to correct your problem then replace it with a new one and adjust it (the new one) into spec.

 

[JerryIrons]

Re: engine stalls when shiftin in reverse - alpha one gen 1

forfun,

With the drive off of the boat, but upper and lower mated together, you can test it before bolting it all up. Shift shoe straight ahead = forward gear, prop should lock in one direction. When the prop locks, that indicates that it's in gear and will work correctly. Put shoe about 11 oclock, and the prop should rotate freely in each direction = neutral. Put shoe about 10 oclock and prop should lock in other direction = reverse.

Then hook it up to the boat, keep that prop bungeed up locked in forward if you want, shift shoe in forward as well. Then at the engine take the shift cable barrel out of holder, and try above sequence again manually. If that works, all you have left to so is some shift cable fine tuning.

At the engine, the shift cutout switch lever position should be centered, "in the valley". If it pops out of the valley when shifting, I believe your engine will stall.

 

[forfun]

Thank you for good suggestions. I ended up pulling the drive out and checked the cable movement, i found that it was sticking and was not pulling in all the way. I realized that the retainer nut was not fully threaded in, i had to drill the previous nut out and rethread so i guess I was afraid to over tighten while putting in the new one. Manual said it would be ok if it was out by two threads, anyway i tightened it all the way and cable started pulling in all the way. This still did not fix the shifting problem, i then adjusted the upper cable, which was not replaced and it started shifting great. Hope this will help someone in the future.