OMC Cobra I/O Tight shifting

[Dswitzer]

I have a 1989 OMC 5.7L. Runs beautiful but my only complaint is how tight the shifting is.
Engine off its fairly smooth but coming to dock in and out of neutral its a stiff shift.
Not sure if this is a common thing or if there is something I may be able to do a quick adjustment on?

 

[Lou C]

Common
Not a quick thing to fix, except make sure that your idle is no more than 600 rpm in gear in the water & that the ESA when triggered drops the idle down to 450 rpm. If that fixes it great if not you have some reading to do….
Do a search on my username I’ve sited how to get these shifting well numerous times…

 

[kenny nunez]

Look at the plate where the shift linkage an switches are. Make sure that none look like they are broken.

 

[Dswitzer]

Common
Not a quick thing to fix, except make sure that your idle is no more than 600 rpm in gear in the water & that the ESA when triggered drops the idle down to 450 rpm. If that fixes it great if not you have some reading to do….
Do a search on my username I’ve sited how to get these shifting well numerous times…

Thanks! I've seen some suggestions about the rpm thing. I'll need to look again but I think I'm closer to 1000rpm in idle.
I'll see what I can pick up from your past threads.

 

[Dswitzer]

Look at the plate where the shift linkage an switches are. Make sure that none look like they are broken.

I've taken a look at all the links etc. All seem in solid state to me.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Thanks! I've seen some suggestions about the rpm thing. I'll need to look again but I think I'm closer to 1000rpm in idle.

that is not idle

 

[Dswitzer]

that is not idle

To be honest though, I've never really took notice about idle rpm. I'll circle back to this one when I get back on the lake. 1000 seems high but I don't recall seeing the needle drop to far below the "1"

 

[Lou C]

Also use a tach/dwell meter hooked up to the ignition coil, those dash tachs arent that accurate mines off by about 150 rpm….
On these you can feel a difference even if the idle rpm is about 150 rpm too high…