help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

[alilley]

i will keep the chain of events that lead up to today as short as possiable as most of them have been posted on here.

.......so got the motor put back together got it fired right up .....back it off the trailer so i am thinking great about to put all the trouble behind us and enjoy boating........finally well from that point it all went down hill after backing it off the trailer went to newtral on the controlls and tried to go into foward....well it was still gowing backwards so after thinking it was in the linkages and trying and playing around with them (just small adjustments on top o f the valve cover) and get nothing. we float it on the trailer as best we can (the drive home is 5 miles with 3 stop signs) we get it home tear out drive back off to find that the end of the shift cable the part with the fork, well the arm with the roller was in front of that and not in the fork so ok great put it back together the way it should be and now.......i put the controls into foward and prop will clock ways and will lock up ccw like it is in gear......but if you put it in reverse on the controlls all i get it freespin on the prop some one please tell me what i messed up and can i fix it....i am about to the point of giving up on it as just pure fruistration kicks in here

 

[jayrodoh]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

Provided your shifter isn't messed up, those Alpha shift plates have a very detailed adjustment procedure that you're not goign to get right by just messing with it. Get a factory service manual and run through the steps. If you lower shift cable is buggered up, you'll run into all sorts of issues with stallign and poor shifting. When I first got into an Alpha years ago, I was about ready to burn the boat down until I got some good pointers and a manual, all is good now.

 

[alilley]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

ok i have the maual. and just finished how to adjust it.....

i took the lower cable ( the one that goes strait to the out drive) off of the controlls and moved it manualy. i can get to were it lokck in gear with the prop will spin in a cw rotation if you go ccw it locks up. this is with the cable pushed in. if i pull the cable out all the way the will spin in both direction but you can hear clicking in a cw manner. one other thing i will add here is before i would have to use a bungie courd to hold it in gear but with the cable pushed in it is ing gear soldly, a bungie is not needed.....

the end of the shift cable that goes into the out drive, the one of the "fork" can that rotate around abd get out of "adjustment? if so i do i make sure that is correct?

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

There is no adjustment on the actual cable itself as you are referring. It is adjusted to the shift plate, but you should be able to get the gears while the cable is off and you push and pull manually.

Did you separate the halves of the outdrive recently (impeller change) and possibly not mated them correctly?

(EDIT) I just read a previous thread of yours and see you did change the impeller. Did you have reverse engage since then or have you just not tried it. It's possible the halves will have to be separated again and reinstalled while both are in forward. You may be one notch off.

 

[stonyloam]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

You can look at this, start at page 89: http://www.perfprotech.com/store/app_themes/ppt/images/tech-specs/alpha-shift-adjust.pdf When you pull the cable end off (page 91), try pushing the cable (forward) and pulling (reverse) to seee if it goes into gear. If it does, you should be able to get it working by following the adjustment procedure. Good luck.

 

[jayrodoh]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

If you can get it into one gear but not the other, and neutral is off, Eric may be onto something with the shift lever. When reassembling the drive halves, attention must be paid when putting the lower back on so the shift lever sits right on the shaft.

I don't have the details handy, but your manual will. If not, I'll go pul my manual or someone here will pipe up that knows.

 

[alilley]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

ok it sound as if i will have to back up a little but then.....did rebuild on motor, wile doing this also did gimble and impeller. put boat on water and all went well (had foward and reverse) untill motor lost oil pressure at wot so tore that down and fixed motor. did not tear out drive apart. i did put new gaskets and 0 rings on. i was getting tired and hot so when the out drive slid on and it left like the "grove and paw" (the parts that actucall shift and have to line up on the out drive sorry dont know real name there) were lined up and in place called it a night. went out next day got motor fired up and we called it a day.......which will bring us up to today when i unloaded it off the trailer only to find out that i had everse.....i hope this helps

 

[dn010]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

It's a little difficult to follow what you're trying to say but it still sounds like your cables are not adjusted correctly, the adjusting ends are loose, or your cables are just plain old worn out. Have you replaced these cables?? If not, you may want to - they are not expensive. As far as the adjusting part just follow the manual. I will say - once it took me hours trying to adjust my new shift cables - very frustrating when it would go in forward and not reverse - adjust and then go in reverse but then not forward. If you find yourself in this situation, the only way I was able to obtain the correct adjustment was to adjust the reverse lock lever first, and then do a cable adjustment...

 

[alilley]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

ok i will put it this way ......boat worked in bot foward and reverse. pulled the out drive to pull motor. put motor back in out drive back on and all i had was reverse. pulled drive to find the roller not in the for fixed that and now only have (i think is) foward

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

Something must have gotten bent/damaged when you put the drive on wrong. maybe the cable,

Can you try shifting it by hand outside the boat and see if you can get all the gears.

Probably gonna have to pull the drive off and see if it shifts off the boat ok or not.

Looking at ziggy's photo the shift shaft on the drive will be in forward if the shaft is straight fore and aft.

 

[alilley]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

ok out drive is off. can shift out drive in both gears started to rain do had to stop. it has let up so going back out and hopefully get it back to gether

hoe huck of a p i a to do a shift cable

 

[alilley]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

ok got it all back to gether now.....went through and double checked everything as putting it back on.........i dont know what it is/was maybe it was just from being hot and tired (it was about a 20 hr work day for me yesterday) then frustrated when it didnt go right.......but not i mover the shift cable in and out with the prop being rotated by hand and it stops one way then rotate it the other way and the cable get moved it stops again......i will go through step by step on the cable adjustment next weekend as that will e when i get a chance to work on it next thanks for your help ......again

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Re: help!!!!!! about to give up on boat.......alpha 1 issues

Well that's good news. Terry (stonyloam) has a good link for adjustment in post#5. Sometimes ya need alittle patience and clarity and it all comes together. Let us know how it works out!