Alpha1 Gen2 shifting problem, HELP!!

burtonrider11

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 28, 2005
Messages
178
So thanks to all the help in the past year, our boat has been running perfectly, until today. I started the boat in the driveway like always. I heard a sound that I didn't recognize when it was idling. I shifted to forward fine, then back to neutral. Tried reverse and it made a grinding sound, then stalled. I then could not shift the boat from reverse to neutral. I check the drive and confirmed it was stuck. I then drop the lower to get the shift head/lever clear. I then pulled the upper. A few things noted when I did this:

NO water in gear lube, perfect green/blue color.
NO metal shavings in lube or drain pull.
Gimbal bearing turns perfectly
When I looked at the shift slide, it had disengaged from the shift lever. The slide appeared tilted about 15-20 degrees to the port side.

I reassembled the upper and lower. I was able to manually engage forward and reverse. I noted the impeller (new this spring) made turning the prop/input shaft difficult - made a squeeling noise, rubber on metal. I didn't hear this with motor running - i did not disassemble the impeller housing.

So, I manually twisted the slide back to perfectly up and down and re-connected the shift lever - it appears these are both free floating?

Reinstalled lower unit and shifted without the motor running, I could feel the lower unit shifting into gear.

Then started motor and forward seemed to engage adequately. Then when shifting into reverse, it made the grinding noise, but did shift. In either gear, it seemed to spin fine. However, I didn't dare take the boat to Lake MI with my family.

When it did make the grinding noise, I can best describe it as how the old Gen 1 alphas used to sound going into gear.

So my guy tells me the drive is okay and it's an engagment issue. Can it be the shift cable or an adjustment to said cable. I appreciate any input anyone can give...am really bumming today, it was going to be an unbelievable boating and beach day :(
 
Last edited:

burtonrider11

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 28, 2005
Messages
178
Update: after doing some research, I found the MerCruiser document (Thanks Don!) for shift cable adjustment. The slide/barrel for the cable going to the lower unit was supposed to 6", it measured about 6.75". I did make some adjustments to get it to within spec. Without starting the motor, the shifting did "feel" better. No idea if this will be the fix, I will update later.
 
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