four winns 214
Senior Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2008
- Messages
- 769
The throttle-only button on the original Commander shifter in my 1984 Sea Ray cuddy became increasingly difficult to actuate. The shifting and throttling functions worked fine. For those unfamiliar with old carbureted engines like the Merc 228R in my boat, the throttle-only feature is essential to starting the engine cold.
I did some troubleshooting and attempts at lubrication to no avail. I consulted two maintenance pros. One said he's had some success at repair, but indicated that replacement was needed at times. Without even looking at it, the other maintenance pro recommended replacement for two reasons: 1) Disassembly and repair labor can quickly add up to a large percentage of the cost of a new shifter with no guarantee of a successful outcome. 2) The new shifter is a better design and the package comes with new shift and throttle cables (the old can't be reused) which eliminates a potential source of future headaches.
Since the second shop had successfully replaced several older Commanders with new Commander 4000 Gen II units, I decided to give them the job. I was not disappointed. They did a nice job with the installation- looks great and works flawlessly. And no more finger crossing and hoping that I can get the shifter into throttle-only. They were right on their estimate of $700 which included some minor additional work. Not a cheap repair on an old boat ($700 is more than 10% of the boat's value), but so far I'm happy with it. I did have the shop take close look at the boat to make sure it was worthy of the investment.
I did some troubleshooting and attempts at lubrication to no avail. I consulted two maintenance pros. One said he's had some success at repair, but indicated that replacement was needed at times. Without even looking at it, the other maintenance pro recommended replacement for two reasons: 1) Disassembly and repair labor can quickly add up to a large percentage of the cost of a new shifter with no guarantee of a successful outcome. 2) The new shifter is a better design and the package comes with new shift and throttle cables (the old can't be reused) which eliminates a potential source of future headaches.
Since the second shop had successfully replaced several older Commanders with new Commander 4000 Gen II units, I decided to give them the job. I was not disappointed. They did a nice job with the installation- looks great and works flawlessly. And no more finger crossing and hoping that I can get the shifter into throttle-only. They were right on their estimate of $700 which included some minor additional work. Not a cheap repair on an old boat ($700 is more than 10% of the boat's value), but so far I'm happy with it. I did have the shop take close look at the boat to make sure it was worthy of the investment.