Forward is reverse ?

[Nrizzo20]

Hey everyone,

Finally got my boat up and running. Anyone ever had experience with shifting into forward and being in reverse? When I shift into reverse is goes into reverse like it should. My shift cables shift correctly, but I can't cruise around my pond in reverse doing circles.

I had replaced the lower unit, put it back on and the boat worked fine. Blew the motor and of course took the whole outdrive off after that. Today was the test drive and reverse is all I had. Any advice??

Edit: alpha one gen 2 outdrive

 

[fhhuber]

There's a mis-assembly in the shift linkages.

 

[Nrizzo20]

There's a mis-assembly in the shift linkages.

In the lower or upper unit?

 

[stonyloam]

If the control moves freely from WOT F to WOT R, then the roller on the underside of the upper shift shaft lever is not between the two arms of the shift slide. It is in front of the forward arm, so the slide pushes the lever CCW into R, but since roller is not between the arms it wil not pull it back CW into F. Slide the outdrive back, position the roller between the arms, and slide er back together. Added thought, since you are in R, you will have to put the control in forward and reach under and manually rotate the bottom of the upper shift shaft clockwise into F, rotate the prop CCW till it Locks then bungee the prop so it stays in F when you pull the outdrive back.

 

[achris]

In the lower or upper unit?

The connection between the two.

 

[fhhuber]

There's 3 or 4 places, depending on the engine where the linkages could be wrong. All above the water pump if the linkage pulls/pushes the rod from upper unit to lower unit gear case. There are some that twist the rod and that can be installed wrong right down at the gearbox in a couple of engines i worked on.

Not sure about your engine's linkages.... Most likely in the connections beside the engine block.

 

[Nrizzo20]

If the control moves freely from WOT F to WOT R, then the roller on the underside of the upper shift shaft lever is not between the two arms of the shift slide. It is in front of the forward arm, so the slide pushes the lever CCW into R, but since roller is not between the arms it wil not pull it back CW into F. Slide the outdrive back, position the roller between the arms, and slide er back together. Added thought, since you are in R, you will have to put the control in forward and reach under and manually rotate the bottom of the upper shift shaft clockwise into F, rotate the prop CCW till it Locks then bungee the prop so it stays in F when you pull the outdrive back.

It doesn't move freely from WOT forward to WOT reverse. I have to shift from neutral into either forward or reverse. Do I have to pull the whole drive off to now fix this problem?

 

[Bt Doctur]

not knowing how you installed it ,we cant answer that. the lower splined shaft must be turned fully clockwise for fwd.when assembled as a unit the shift shoe is at
12:00in foward , neutral is approx. 11:00 and reverse is approx. 10:00 . If the shoes are not moving you missed the roller in the shift slide, if the control lever is jamming you put it together in reverse.

 

[stonyloam]

OK, but you can pull it into reverse right? If you have not removed the gear housing (lower) since it worked OK then it is probably the shift slide. Raise the outdrive enough so they you can get a look at the bottom of the upper shift shaft. Put the control in reverse, take a look. The linkage should point to port, then shift to forward. The coupler should point straight ahead. If it does not, try to rotate it clockwise so that it is straight ahead. If it rotates, then the problem is probably the shift slide. You need to slide the outdrive back far enough to reach in and reposition the slide. Is this an alpha I or gen II? This is what I am talking about: http://www.sterndrives.com/How_to_do_it/AlphagenII_ShiftLever.jpg

 

[Nrizzo20]

OK, but you can pull it into reverse right? If you have not removed the gear housing (lower) since it worked OK then it is probably the shift slide. Raise the outdrive enough so they you can get a look at the bottom of the upper shift shaft. Put the control in reverse, take a look. The linkage should point to port, then shift to forward. The coupler should point straight ahead. If it does not, try to rotate it clockwise so that it is straight ahead. If it rotates, then the problem is probably the shift slide. You need to slide the outdrive back far enough to reach in and reposition the slide. Is this an alpha I or gen II? This is what I am talking about: http://www.sterndrives.com/How_to_do_it/AlphagenII_ShiftLever.jpg

It's a gen 2. And yes I can shift into reverse fine. It will shift into forward, but the boat actually reverses.

If the prop was spun in either direction while the boat was in forward or neutral would that make a difference and bump the splines out of place?

 

[stonyloam]

Nope, it is the shift lever roller not captured by the shift slide. Pretty sure. If you can manually shift into forward by rotating the bottom of the upper shift shaft clockwise, than very sure. Since it is a Gen II and you can pull the lever into reverse chances of it being "off a spline" are zero.

 

[Nrizzo20]

Nope, it is the shift lever roller not captured by the shift slide. Pretty sure. If you can manually shift into forward by rotating the bottom of the upper shift shaft clockwise, than very sure. Since it is a Gen II and you can pull the lever into reverse chances of it being "off a spline" are zero.

Ok I will pull the upper off tonight and check out that shift shaft with an update. Thank you

 

[stonyloam]

Yeah if you can shift into R and the upper shift shaft will not move by hand, and then if you shift into F and you can turn the upper shift shaft CW then you can be pretty sure the roller is not captured.

 

[Nrizzo20]

Yeah if you can shift into R and the upper shift shaft will not move by hand, and then if you shift into F and you can turn the upper shift shaft CW then you can be pretty sure the roller is not captured.

So I found out that the Lower linkage from the lower unit was not lined up on the linkage to the upper. So I took the lower off, and lined up both linkages.

I turned the shift linkage on the lower cw and turned the prop ccw. The boat is engaged in forward gear slightly in neutral and both forward and reverse are forward! I have no clue what I am doing wrong here

 

[stonyloam]

Ok, with the Gen II there are only two things that can (usually) go wrong, (roller not captured by shift slide, lower shift shaft off a spline) but you seem to have found #3 LOL! So it seems that the lower shift shaft was not coupled to the upper shift shaft, so the gearcase was in reverse and was not shifting because the upper and lower shift shafts were not connected. just to make sure, when you place the control in forward the prop locks when you turn it counterclockwise right? OK, This will be a bit of a pain but is guaranteed to fix your problem (almost). Drop the gearcase (lower). Push the control all the way WOT forward. Does the coupler at the bottom of the upper shift shaft point straight ahead? If so, grab it and try to turn it counterclockwise. If it moves freely then the roller is not captured by the shift slide. If it does not move, pull the control back into reverse. Does the coupler move counterclockwise, and is held securely in place. If so the driveshaft housing is OK. Push the control back to WOT forward, now take the lower shift shaft on the gear housing and turn it all the way clockwise, and turn the prop counterclockwise till it locks. If the top of the lower shift shaft points straight ahead, matching the bottom of the upper shift shaft, bungee the prop in place so it stays locked in forward. Put it back together and you should be OK.

 

[Nrizzo20]

Ok, with the Gen II there are only two things that can (usually) go wrong, (roller not captured by shift slide, lower shift shaft off a spline) but you seem to have found #3 LOL! So it seems that the lower shift shaft was not coupled to the upper shift shaft, so the gearcase was in reverse and was not shifting because the upper and lower shift shafts were not connected. just to make sure, when you place the control in forward the prop locks when you turn it counterclockwise right? OK, This will be a bit of a pain but is guaranteed to fix your problem (almost). Drop the gearcase (lower). Push the control all the way WOT forward. Does the coupler at the bottom of the upper shift shaft point straight ahead? If so, grab it and try to turn it counterclockwise. If it moves freely then the roller is not captured by the shift slide. If it does not move, pull the control back into reverse. Does the coupler move counterclockwise, and is held securely in place. If so the driveshaft housing is OK. Push the control back to WOT forward, now take the lower shift shaft on the gear housing and turn it all the way clockwise, and turn the prop counterclockwise till it locks. If the top of the lower shift shaft points straight ahead, matching the bottom of the upper shift shaft, bungee the prop in place so it stays locked in forward. Put it back together and you should be OK.

Finally! I can't thank you enough. I've been working on this outdrive and enigne for months. Finally a test on the water was a success!! New to the whole boating scene, but I finally managed to get it work. I guess I had a few problems. First one I posted about, AND just as you said. The roller was not captured. Pull the whole outdrive and bang! She's fixed now