motor wont shift into forward or reverse

[sfy]

i have a 93 Johnson 60 2 stroke on my pontoon, just purchased the boat last week.

today we took it out for its maiden voyage and found it was VERY hard to get the throttle to shift into forward or reverse, but eventually got it to work.
got down the lake a ways, turned off the motor and fished for a while.

when we went to move to a different spot, the motor would start ok, but we were not able to engage forward or reverse, no matter how hard we tried. the shifter would not move even an inch. had to get towed back to the ramp and load up manually.

any ideas?

 

[bktheking]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

Seized cable from the controls to the motor perhaps?

 

[sfy]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

i should mention that when i pull the red button to put it in neutral,the shifter moves very easily, forward and back. dont know if that matters or not

 

[bktheking]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

This is on the controls? Ya I think that bypasses the shifting and only controls the throttle.

 

[sfy]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

yes, when the neutral button on the shifter has been engaged the shifter moves very easily back and forth. and yeah, it does seem to control the throttle then

 

[Daviet]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

Disconnect the cables at the engine and try to move shift lever. If it still will not move, open control box and check linkage inside, also check cables themselves, may be seized. If shift works with cables disconnected at engine may have lower unit or engine linkage problems.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

also the teeth in the control are known for breaking, and jambing the shift. as said remove the cable at the engine, and try to shift manually. with the motor off, you may have to turn the prop with your foot to get the gears to engage. if the motor shifts, you either have a bad cable, or control problem.

 

[sfy]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

thanks for the replies. is anyone aware of a site where i can get the owners manual as a PDF file? been trying to get it to work, but i just dont feel good unless i have some type of manual helping me along, letting me know which things i should NOT be touching to try and solve this

i see tons of sites offering a seloc manual, but i just dont have the freetime later in the week to tackle this when the mailman delivers the hardcopy

edit: just found the one year subscription to seloc....nevermind

 

[sfy]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

well, took the boat to the dealer, told him what it was doing and asked for help. the mechanic walked around to the prop, gave it a spin, and now the shifter moves as if it was brand new.

frustrating. i could have done that at the lake and kept having a good day, but at least i now know what to do if it happens again

 

[Jeff_G]

Re: motor wont shift into forward or reverse

Were you trying to shift with the engine off?
What was happening at the dealership was the clutch was high centering on the gear. It would be a rare engine that did it in forward and reverse.
I think you may still have a problem if it didn't shift with the engine running.