Re: Trouble engaging reverse gear
Noleman.... Although you may not be guilty of the following, I wanted to enter it so that others may be aware of it. Some boaters have a habit of shifting into gear, thinking that this takes it easy on the shifter mechanism. Nothing could be further from the truth.<br /><br />When you shift into gear, a shifter dog that has sharp right angled lobes protruding from it engages like lobes on one gear or the other. If shifted slowly, those lobes contact each other at the edges many times, rounding the edges off, which converts those sharp right angle edges into a curved corner.<br /><br />With the shifter dog and gears damaged as above, the engine may stay in gear at a lower rpm, but when the throttle is increased, the torque (pressure) on those rounded lobes force the engine out of gear. Then, due to having the original pressure still being applied on the shifting cable, the lower unit is immediately forced back into gear.... and the cycle continues. This results in the sensation that one is constantly hitting an object in the water.<br /><br />Okay, now that being said, and which may not apply to you, your problem may be due to the following.<br /><br />If you had no problem previously pertaining to shifting, and you (nor anyone else) has installed, removed, adjusted, or changed anything, I would suspect that either the trunion (the adjustable portion of the shift cable that is clamped at the engine) has somehow moved from its original position, or a like situation has taken place at the control console/box.<br /><br />The possibility also exists that suddenly something has went wrong at the lower unit internally (lets hope not). Remove or loosen the lower slotted drain screw to inspect for water, metal filings etc. Let us know what you find.
