merc lower shift cable...huh?

[maxxman04]

so, i did a complete omc cobra to mercruiser swap on my bayliner. total swap. now, i'm almost done, just a few odds n ends to tie up HOWEVER, i have one issue i can't get resolved. a few phone calls, alot of searching, and checking manuals, i can't get this figured out. the problem. i got the lower cable in, outdrive on. initially i couldn't get it to move at all. dropped outdrive, reinstalled, got it to move properly. but now, without having touched it at all, it won't move again. i got it to go into gear, without motor running, as i was checking cable adjustments. i did not adjust the lower or shift cable (checking throttle cable). it went into forward and reverse just fine a couple times, then just locked out in neutral. obviously i'm going to drop the outdrive again and look closer at things, but i'm wondering if anyone has run into this problem, and what might have solved it for them. thanks.

 

[maxxman04]

Re: merc lower shift cable...huh?

so, in case anyone is curious, i pulled the drive off today only to find that the brand new upper shift shaft i had just put in was bent, exactly like the old one. i'd installed it according to manuals and mechanic advice, yet it still bent. is this what i can expect from a little brass shaft? upon initial install, everything worked great, but somewhere got fouled up. not sure how a solid bras shaft, almost 1/2" in diameter could bend like that. oh well, new one on the way again.

 

[boatguya1]

Re: merc lower shift cable...huh?

Alpha old style or gen II? Either way the most likely way to bend a shift shaft on install would be to force it on without the shaft on the drive locked in forward (facing forward if indexed to the shaft on the lower correctly on an alpha or pre alpha) and/or the shaft in the pivot hsg or bell hsg depending on what you want to call it not lined up to accept it.

James

 

[maxxman04]

Re: merc lower shift cable...huh?

like i said, i installed correctly, even had to do it couple times to get it set right. after reassembly, i shifted forward and reverse without a hitch, no force needed. smooth and easy. couple days later, without having touched anything, it would not move. i didn't force it. took cables off, tried to move, nothing. until today when i got drive off, saw bent shaft. so unless the manual and two marine mechanics are wrong, it was put it correctly. it's pre-alpha 898 series.

 

[boatguya1]

Re: merc lower shift cable...huh?

With the drive off now does the drive shift smoothly? Are we talking the shaft on the drive or the one in the pivot hsg? (different people call these things different names) Unless you got a bad shaft it takes force to bend either of these. I once had an alpha one mess with me when the shifting would sometimes jam and other times work, turns out the magnet came off the lower drain plug and was moving around on the shift crank and would sometimes stand up and jam the shifting then move and work.

Bad shaft from new or to much force was somehow applied to it during assembly or shifting, I don't see how it could be anything else.

James

 

[maxxman04]

Re: merc lower shift cable...huh?

it is the shaft in the lower housing. mercruiser part # 62104-1. i've seen it labeled intermediate shift shaft, as well as upper shift shaft. everything moves great while apart, even the lower shaft. however, i have noticed that if i move the shaft by hand one direction, it will actually move back on its own, as if under a small amount of tension, kinda. or maybe this is the magnet you mentioned. i had not thought of that, tho the shaft does move just fine.