Side Mount Control Loooseness

[jgoeden]

I have an '86 Mercruiser 170 mounted in an 1986 Sea Sprite 195. The side-mount control is quite loose, and it gives me problems with shift and things.

It's hard to explain, but the arm is loose (as in it wobbles about 1/2"-1" forward and back) but we've tightened that up and it still has play. It's like cables are loose, stretched, not tightened, etc.

Is this common and is it easy to get these tightened? It's nearly impossible to put the boat in neutral and I've rammed the boat quite hard into docks because getting from forward, to neutral, or from reverse to neutral is a PITA.

Example: I get a little forward movement to head up to a dock, then I fight with it to get it in neutral. I do get it in neutral, so we're drifting, so I go to put it in reverse just a tad for a little braking, and it's a fight to get it in reverse gear, so when it does, it throttles up real high, making us back out of the dock.

It seems like I have to move the arm really far forward or backward to get it in and out of gears. Can I tighten these up like the brakes on a bicycle? Can someone explain how to? Thanks!!!!!!

 

[Bondo]

Re: Side Mount Control Loooseness

Ayuh,... My guess is, the shift switch is disconnected...
It's mounted on the shift plate where the forward shift able meets the lower shift cable...
It should ground out the igntion for a second, allowing the drive to shift to neutral...

 

[Kainon]

Re: Side Mount Control Loooseness

there's plastic bushings inside could be causing part of the problem.

The hole the HEX SET Screw goes into on the bottom of the handle, is it cracked? is so.. tightening, then use will loosen it right back up.

Disconnect the lower shift cable inside the boat and see if it moves freely, if not it may be time to replace, I suggest the "EXTREME" edition, has a liner that seems to help keep it moving freely.

Is your Shift interupt circuit working properly ?

WHen you shift from F to N or R to N, the engine should " stumble " thereby releiving engine torque from the outdrive/prop letting the GEARS disengage.

You can only check it out of the water manually, by moving the interupt arm or depressing he switch with the engine running ( on water with drive down )..

You should NOT be able to activate the interupt when on LAND.. and NOT when going from N-F or N-R.. if it does, then the lower shift cable is binding and needs to be replaced.

ps.. a couple internal shifter parts are available from Sierra Marine Parts dealers.

 

[Kainon]

Re: Side Mount Control Loooseness

pss.. there is supposed to be a certain amount of movement in the ARM something like 15 degrees before the Throttle cable starts moving.

 

[jgoeden]

Re: Side Mount Control Loooseness

Thanks for the replies everyone, I'll do those tests when I summerize the boat and get her running again.

Kainon, I understand there's supposed to be a little play, but I think mine is way too much. I mean it's not slack, it's just straight loose. I'm always scared it's going to fall off in the middle of the lake, or worse yet, in forward throttle heading toward a boat ramp or something!

Also, I'm not sure which cables are which, so I'm going to have to get in the manual and see if it labels them. If not, when the snow melts, I'll take a picture and see if you guys will identify them for me. Probably this weekend, it's supposed to be 52 here in Indiana!

 

[jgoeden]

Re: Side Mount Control Loooseness

Oh good Lord, please help!

http://www.go2marine.com/category.do?no=13616

How do I figure out which one to buy? There are shift cable KITS (a bit pricey) but what do you think? I'm attempting to read now about the basic process of all of this. Am I going to be taking the outdrive off?

Edit: OH GOD: straight from a website describing how to change it prefices his whole script with this:

"Before we start. This can be difficult and sometimes next to impossible to do if you have no experience."

....

Yeah, this isn't a job for me. And I quit my $50k/yr job to go back to school full time, and now I'm at a part time job making $11/hr, so I don't exactly have a ton of money to be dropping into this thing. I don't mind doing maintenance, but I'm already dropping in a new starter, and I could use a new lower shift cable apparently, I probably need a whole transom replacement.

I don't think boating is for me anymore. I'm really getting heavy hearted about all of this, I love the water more than anything, but I just can't afford this crap. I got shafted and bought a sh*t boat and now I'm really paying for it. And to think, I sold my quad to get either a boat or a motorcycle. I want a cafe racer. Guess I made the wrong choice... Any advice guys? I know most of you guys are older and probably can give me some boating and life advice.

 

[GLENN M]

Re: Side Mount Control Loooseness

is it the shifter with button on top and trim switches if so take handle apart,and then you will be able to see how the rest comes apart not much to it.mine was loose too. its bein awile it was a 470 alpha i remember it was easy