1991 19' Celebrity Mercruiser 5.0 Alpha One Gen II wont go into gear

wapitiguide

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Apr 21, 2012
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1991 19' Celebrity with 5.0 Mercruiser and a Alpha One II outdrive. Today while moving to a new fishing spot boat broke down. As I was slowing down and turning around at the motor I heard a whining sound. I tuned the boat off and lifted the engine cover. Restarted the boat and could still hear whining sound but not load. Now the boat would not shift into forward or reverse gears. I checked the prop hub and looks good. Took top cap off and fluid looks good. Turned prop and all gears would turn. Had wife turn prop while I looked at the shaft going to the motor. That shaft was spinning also. Tried all this in forward and reverse gear. Any help on what to check next? Thanks in advance.
 

alldodge

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Have you pulled the drive and see if the shift cable ?
 

Bt Doctur

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. Turned prop and all gears would turn. Had wife turn prop while I looked at the shaft going to the motor. That shaft was spinning also

That is a bad coupler
 

wapitiguide

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Apr 21, 2012
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Have not pulled the outdrive yet to check that cable in the outdrive. Is it hard to change the engine coupler? I read somewhere you have to pull the engine. Is that true?
 

Bt Doctur

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+Afraid so, motor comes out. Most coupler failures are caused by mis-alignment. That is caused by collapsed rear mounts or stringer rot in the front mounts
 

wapitiguide

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Is the only special tool needed is an alignment tool? Regular hand tool can do the rest of the job? Now I have to figure out how to get the motor out of the boat.
 

Bt Doctur

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if your close to central NJ pulling the motor is not a problem

depending on the construction usually you:
place drive in fwd and remove rams ,6 nuts , pull off
remove 2 rear mount bolts
remove front mount lag bolts ,leave mounts on the engine
cables, bonding wires, fuel line starter cable, neg cable,etc
attach lifting device and pull straight up and out
remove rear flywheel cover, examine/replace rear mounts,
3 bolts to remove coupler
reassemble
 

wapitiguide

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Apr 21, 2012
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In Utah it might be a problem, because I have to figure a way to get something high enough to clear the boat to get it out. It's more difficult here because of the higher elevation here...lol. So I take it that the only special tool needed is the alignment tool? Thanks for all the help. Once I fix the RV furnace the boat is next. Hope by this weekend I can get the parts and get it fixed.
 
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