shift issue after impeller replacement

[nailem]

i have a 86' 5.0l with a alpha 1 out drive. im new to boating and just bought the boat so i decided to replace the impeller. all went good until i realized when i was cleaning the inside of the lower out i took the washer off of the shift spline shaft and forgot to put it back in when i reassembled. so last night i dropped the lower (did not remove the entire out drive) and placed the washer in. i had the boat in forward and it went right back together. so now im thinking im getting good at this.

i must not be because it now shifts into forward fine but when shifting into reverse it does not the prop does not lock into gear. it doesnt seem like it is possible to be a full spline off on the shift rode so instead of dropping it again i adjusted the shift cables. i adjusted what i think is called the drive cable (the one with the brass barrel) about a 1/8 and now it locks into gear both forward and back.

now im second guessing that decision. so i guess my question is what would i have screwed up that i needed to adjust the shift? should i have dropped and tried to move the shift rod over one spline? and at this point should i leave it or redo it?

thanks in advance

 

[nailem]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

i did not get much sleep last night and noticed some of this is hard to read. when i shift into reverse it does not fully lock in gear, it kind of skips gear.
it just bothers me that i had to adjust the shift cables. am i over thinking this? any thought would be appreciated

 

[djvan]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

Don't know if it's possible but the lower shift mechanism is splined, maybe it was turned and the splines aligned incorrectly?

DougV>

 

[nailem]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

can you be off on the line up of the splines? i know we installed it once and were definitely off because it would shift in one way but would not go into the opposite gear.

can you be off just a little?

it seems that if i wasnt fully clockwise with the shift spline that it would be one off to ccw witch would be reverse so in theory it would be closer to reverse than forward. does that make sense?

still what bothers me is that i had to adjust my cables after the work was done, is that normal?

 

[djvan]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

I'm not much of a boat mechanic< but I'm learning more everyday (mainly from this site).

Just thought I would throw the splines theory out there as nobody had responded to your post.

I'm thinking the splines are kind of wide so if you misaligned them it would be really obvious.

I'm sure somebody has some ideas here.

I don't know if shift cable adjustment is normal with this type of work.

I do know that the two times I have replaced my impeeler I did not have to readjust my cable.

HTH's



DougV>

 

[cheburashka]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

It's possible that the shift linkage on the lower unit is not mated up to the linkage on the outdrive leg. There's a piece on the top part of the linkage with two bent-down edges which accepts the flat piece that's on the lower. Could it be that these aren't aligned properly?

 

[nailem]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

i think it is aligned but i will double check. might not get a chance today since its 50* and raining.

 

[BigSteve1967]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

Bump

maybe DonS or Bond-O will see this I actually am having the same problem I think I may be out a tooth or two.

 

[nailem]

Re: shift issue after impeller replacement

i went through the shift cable adjustment procedure and i get positive lock in forward and reverse. there is a small amount of a clunk when going from neutral to forward or neutral to reverse. is that ok? this is on the muffs so i was thinking that in the water the prop would not be spinning and it should be ok. is that right?