Me again. Had to turn around 100 yds from dock

[Donnyb83]

Hey guys I finally got my 1978 sportcraft with 78 mercury 800 80hp in the water yesterday after changing shift/throttle, steering cables. Changed gear lube also. A few problems which hopefully seem minor. Any help is greatly​ appreciated.
1. My mercury didn't have a tilt pin lock so me and my GFS dad found a rod to use for just a test run.however in reverse the pin wouldn't lock in and motor would try to jump out of the water!

2. After changing the shift/throttle (which the barrels on the new cables were already lined up with the barrel holders on the Motor​, so I didn't even have to adjust) my merccontrol wouldn't kick into forward or reverse until half way in either direction. In forward the boat only would go maybe 8 mph. How can I fix this?
3. Steering is really hard to turn. I never had a boat so I figured it was just old and in the water it would be easier. (I know dumb,it's not like the motor if floating) lol. Well I installed new helm and cables but even with them unattached the motor is very hard to turn in either direction by hand. I greased the fittings but is still pretty hard. Very unsafe on the water. Any suggestions on this?

Thank you very much for everyone's help!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Pull power head, remove and clean swivel shaft between transom clamp and motor leg. reinstall, lube as required, reinstall power head

Most likely corrosion in the swivel pin area, however could just be hard dried grease

 

[Donnyb83]

Thank you very much.

 

[Donnyb83]

That's for the steering correct? Do you know why the tilt pin isn't locking in reverse?

 

[ajgraz]

That's for the steering correct? Do you know why the tilt pin isn't locking in reverse?

Check to be sure that the two little claws grasp the bar you installed when you shift into reverse (and while in neutral, IIRC). On my old 70hp, the claws were so caked in surface corrosion when i bought it that I had to dremel out the inner edges to make them fit around the bar.

EDIT: at the very least, make sure those claws are moving and TRYING to grab the bar when shifting into n or r, if not, something is missing, misaligned, or broken in that linkage. You can test that with the motor tilted up, just look at the claws while someone else moves the shifter. You may have to jiggle the prop to get it to shift into reverse while not running. (Disconnect battery for safety if you're putting your hand on the prop!)

 

[Scott Danforth]

When you have it apart to fix the steering, you can get to the reverse latch

 

[ajgraz]

Also, new control cables may stretch a little, you will likely need to adjust them a few times before they are "set."

 

[Donnyb83]

Thank you guys very much will be working on it this week!