First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

you tension the cables at the top right of the converter box, there are spring loaded pawls that ratchet the cable sheath to acheive proper tension. An OEM manual shows the procedure. As mentioned, you need one of those.

You say you have a full mechanical lower on a 1981 boat-
1981 originally had a hydromechanical lower, was an ESA system added during the swap to a full mech unit?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Yep, I think HS may have hit the nail on the head. You can see the slack in the cable in the picture you provided. I had taken the cable tensioner for granted. The manual clearly states that the tensioner can be damaged if it is roughly pulled away from the box. Where the cable enters the converter box, there is molded sleeve on the cable that gets locked into that tensioner. Your cable looks like the spring in the tensioner block, in the snout of the cable entry area is not keeping tension on the cables.

Also, from the picture provided, you cannot tell if it is full mechanical converter or a hydro-mechanical converter. Here is a picture of the hydro-mechanical converter. It does not have all the switches and doo dads on the front of it. If you actually have the full mechanical drive and you have a converter that looks like this, then there is your problem.



Here is a picture of a Hydro-Mechanical drive. This is what your boat should have had. Note that there is no anti corrosion zinc mounted above the lower cavitation plate, above the prop.



Here is a picture of a full mechanical lower unit.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Well I have the same control you have pictured. The drive looks like the full mechanical. It has the anode.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

What is the next step. I got the control to shift the drive by tightening the cable. Will this setup work or will it fail again.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

What is the next step. I got the control to shift the drive by tightening the cable. Will this setup work or will it fail again.

If your shift converter box looks like the picture I posted above, it will never be anything that you can count on. First of all, the full mechanical drive shift converter is strung different than the hydro-mechanical shift converter box. Second, to keep from tearing up your lower unit, a full mechanical drive needs the shift interrupt mechanism (esa) that is included on the full mechanical converter box and must be wired to the ignition accordingly. This is all assuming that your full mechanical lower unit has the proper shift cable. What I do not know is if a hydro-mechanical shift cable assembly will even mate up with a full mechanical drive. They are different.

Here is a link to a full mechanical shift converter box. Sorry, I cannot describe how you can identify the shift cable you have but suffice it to say, whether the Hydro cable will fit on a full mechanical drive or not, they are different.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/OMC-STRINGE...205555&pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&vxp=mtr

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Well the lucky thing is the extra drive I have has the shift converter on it with the cable. It is from a 1984 boat. What would be the best move from here.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Will the 1984 drive bolt up to the 1981 intermediate. The only thing is I don't know the history on the 1984 drive. The boat was bad along with the motor. I know the ball gears are junk on it. Not sure about any thing inside. Would it be better to dive into the repairs or sell and move on to something different.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

I take it then that your current converter box is the wrong one?

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

And one more thing I just found out that the manual I bought is for 1982 drives. Not sure if that will be a problem.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Yep the converter box is for the hydro-mech drive

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

And one more thing I just found out that the manual I bought is for 1982 drives. Not sure if that will be a problem.

I think that 1982 is when they went to the full mechanical drive. 1978-81 was the hydro-mechanical drive. You still have not answered my questions. It's a bit like pulling teeth, with you!

OK, I see your answer. Now you need to find out if you have the proper shift cable. If you have a spare mechanical drive w/ cable, compare the ends of the cable with what you have installed and see if the two strands are the same length, where they connect to the converter. If so, all you need to do is to install the mechanical converter and figure out how to wire in the interrupt. Without it, you will chew up your gears as they are designed to stay engaged and need to have the ignition cut-out to be able to disengage them without damage to your gears and your shift cables.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Which question. I posted right before your last post that it is the hydro-mech converter. Sorry I'm kicking myself in the butt right now for buying this boat last fall.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Will the 1984 drive bolt up to the 1981 intermediate. The only thing is I don't know the history on the 1984 drive. The boat was bad along with the motor. I know the ball gears are junk on it. Not sure about any thing inside. Would it be better to dive into the repairs or sell and move on to something different.

Yes they will bolt up, the upper gear cases are identical, but I thought you already had a full mechanical drive installed? As far as whether to sell and move on, it's your choice. All the drives are a pain in the arse. IMHO the OMC stringer is simpler, less complex and has many attributes like speed of outdrive lift, height of outdrive lift and tighter turning radius, than the Mercruisers. The only real drawback is that OMC is out of business and parts and mechanics are harder to come by.

What they don't have is all the gimbals, bearings, boots, u-joints and a host of other things that this forum is full of.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

I wasn't sure if it would be better to change the upper and lower together rather than trying to swap out the converter box and shift cable.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

I'm sorry for the strange questions. I have always felt with mercruisers. I think I could take one on those apart in my sleep. I appreciate all your help on this.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

I wasn't sure if it would be better to change the upper and lower together rather than trying to swap out the converter box and shift cable.

Assuming that you currently have a full mechanical drive installed (you still have not given me a firm confirmation) it could be assumed that you do have the proper shift cable along with it. If that is the case, and I would check it as I described above ( they will have different length inner cables coming out of the sheath) then all you need to do is install the proper converter box before you do damage to your currently installed drive.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

It is a full mechanical drive. I will do some checking on the converter and cable lead lengths. The bad thing is when I couldn't get enough tension on the cable I cut the ends and crimped new ends on.(which I'm now guessing was a bone head move)

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

.....cable I cut the ends and crimped new ends on.(which I'm now guessing was a bone head move)....

Ouch!!! Yep, about $500.00 worth! :facepalm: Furthermore, I am not sure how they routed those cables to allow the mechanical drive to shift at all. It is my understanding the the two different converters pull the cables in opposite directions even though the box innards are similar.

 

[Blujay96]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Well sounds like I have a mess. I went back and read all the post again. It also sounds like the converter box shifts backwards from what you said. Left is forward and right is reverse.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: First time in the water with the boat couple of questions

Well sounds like I have a mess. I went back and read all the post again. It also sounds like the converter box shifts backwards from what you said. Left is forward and right is reverse.

Yes, I didn't think about that, exactly. Even though they tried to use the HM converter, the FM drive shifts opposite of the HM drive. So the shift pattern/direction would of had to be as you describe. Well now it looks like you will get an opportunity to learn how to change the shift cable, ie remove from one drive and install on the other.

I would say to run with it as you modified it BUT, as I mentioned, those lower gears, in the FM drive, are failsafe engage cut. That means they are constantly, when under power, forcing themselves to stay engaged. You WILL do damage repeatedly pulling it out of gear without the ignition stutterer.