Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

[iamwill1973]

I have been tinkering with this thing on and off for a while now as my health will allow.Got the motor mounted on the transom, just reinstalled the control cables tonight. It cranked right up and idles fine with the idle lever mid-way but dies out when pulled all the way down. I need to adjust throttle. My big question is when I installed the cables it would not go into reverse without forcing REALLY hard. Seems something happened from when I took it off to tonight when I put it back on. Was working fine. I read something about a spring that came out of the back side of the housing. And seen it when I disassembled it. Now I do not see it. Are parts available for these old controllers for wear parts? I have a manual but do not understand fully from looking at it how it works. I know I will have to take it apart to repair but trying to get some input before I do.

 

[Maxz695]

Re: Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

best bet if you cannot find a lost part is to look through ebay and see what parts are for sale for your type of shifter. Maybe you,ll get lucky and see it on there and hopefully the price will be acceptable. At least if you see the part you,ll know what your looking for

 

[chum1]

Re: Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

if its the old mercontroller there are two little stainless leafsprings with a small roller that makes the clicking sound when put into neutral, they need to be put in place......its one of those things that takes an hour or 30 seconds. If it was working fine before it could possible be as simple the position of the prop if its not running.

 

[iamwill1973]

Re: Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

if its the old mercontroller there are two little stainless leafsprings with a small roller that makes the clicking sound when put into neutral, they need to be put in place......its one of those things that takes an hour or 30 seconds. If it was working fine before it could possible be as simple the position of the prop if its not running.

Not sure I follow you chum. Please explain further

 

[chum1]

Re: Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

well i guess first off it is a mercontroller

did you take it apart and notice any missing parts

does it have a positive click detent when handle is placed in neutral

was engine running when it was easily going into reverse?

 

[iamwill1973]

Re: Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

Yeah, I am going to try and take it apart today. I think you were right on about the leaf springs, after looking at the manual in great detail I still do not see the spring that came out the backside of the controller have you ever seen one? I was thinking when they talked about springs they meant well a spiral spring but I see they are leaf type. It was running and working good before though I never noticed a click when put into reverse and it was always weird feeling as being kind of tight. But I have not had it in the water as this engine was on a boat where the floor had been gutted I think it was a glastron v-178 I put the engine on a 15' glastron not sure of the model. I am really hoping it is with the indent. My reasoning for posting this query was to get a better insight of the inner workings of the controller itself. I would have thought the lever simply would have pushed/pulled the cables but with all those little parts it seems like there is ALOT more to it than that. Now it is just as hard to go into forward as reverse and neutral is only a guess seems like the detent roller or the springs to me. Any suggestions would be appreciated or any explaination of how it works would be great also thanks for everything

 

[chum1]

Re: Mercontrol On a 1966 650 hard to put in gear and back to neutral

I have repaired and stripped back the insulation on wiring harness and re soldered about 3 of these units so far.

1)first thing that usually happens when you take it apart is the little roller about the size of a pencil eraser falls out on the floor or on the bottom of the unit and if your lucky you will find it again.

2) the 2 little leafsprings can also fall out but there usually held in from the notches cast in the two halves

3) the wires insulation can be very crumbly and if you disturb them they will short out on metal case causing further problems....that being the case i have had to resolder the wires which is time consuming and you need a lot of heat and patience.

4) there are basically two cams and a roller sandwiched together which work in unison to move the cables correctly, along with a microswitch that is usually caked in a sticky wax product. This switch prevents you from starting engine full power and flying out of boat ( kind of like a runaway horse.....i hate horses)

5) to get it back together its kind of a balancing act where you have most of the parts including the (pencil eraser) roller on the bottom half against leaf springs facing up, then you install the top half down onto the bottom half, things must line up and you must have the two halves together before you can put it vertical.....if you dont parts will fall loose again and you will have to realign them again.

6) I would make absolutely sure that the problem isn't back there on the engine, maybe even unhook cables from engine before tearing into controller.