Re: gears wont engage
You can add me to the Gulfstream club. I have a '74 also, and it's a great boat. It's the 19 foot, bone stock with yellow interior. I'm pulling it out of storage in the next week or 2, I'll post pics soon.
I'll jump over to the I/O forum and see how much abuse plyrsn1 gets about having an electric shift stringer.
Edit:
Well, since there is no new thread, maybe I'll chime in here. I'm basic in my knowledge, but here goes. All this applies only to the OMC outdrive, so if you have a Merc, you can stop here.
If you have an OMC outdrive, then there are no cables to move. It shifts from F-N-R with electromagnets, so you only have 3 (?) wires running back into the outdrive.
The switch up front in the throttle may be bad, the solenoid or relay in the engine compartment (guessing on this location, look for sure in the manual) or the wiring running from the throttle switch and terminating at the magnets in the lower drive unit has gone bad. I guess the clutching system could be bad too, but it's easier to test wiring first.
It's a pretty simple system and you can trouble shoot everything but the connections in the lower drive unit by bypassing the switch(s) and relay(s) with jumper wires. When the throttle F-N-R switch in my Dad's went out, he used a couple pieces of wire and alligator clips as a bypass, and we kept boating for 3 more days. For forward, clip the forward wire to ground. For reverse, clip the reverse wire to ground. Neutral, unclip all wires. To bust the outdrive, clip all wires together engaging both forward and reverse gears at the same time! That didn't happen to us, make sure you don't do it either.
Now, if you find an easy way to change out the tilt motor, let the rest of us Gulfstreamers know. That job is a stone cold pain when the tilt stops working. And speaking of tilt, when you lower the motor, just bump the down tilt switch to get the outdrive moving and let the outdrive coast down. When it stops moving give it another little bump to lock it in position. The OMC outdrive HATES being powered all the way down.
If you already knew all this, then, um, it's just here for future Gulfstream/OMC owners benefit.
