Alpha One Gen II won't shift into forward but reverse is fine. Bad cable or dogs?

[sinobelus]

New to the forum (and my recently purchased 93' Reinell 170M for that matter). I have read quite a bit on here though and think its a great site!:happy:

(In short): the lower shift cable will not engage forward but will do reverse. Took off cable to adjust, pushed in and prop will not lock in gear (spins freely). Pull and it goes into reverse gear fine.

Thought is cable replacement but unsure if I may have damaged dogs... Any advice would be much appreciated!

More detailed:

Took the boat out prior to purchase and everything went smoothly. First time driving a I/O boat aside from taking the helm for a sec or two on a friends. Shifting could have been smoother (on my part) but as far as I could tell all good.

Went to play with my new toy the following day and after many other issues (which I will not get into) we finally got the boat into the water. Boat fired right up! After warming for a few we went to embark on our sturgeon hunting adventure for the day. I shift to forward gear and "CAPUT" stallage... After many attempts we realized reverse works fine but shifting to forward stalls every time. Time to get the boat back to dock and soak up my tears w/ some beers...

After picking some brains and doing lots of reading I figured that the kill switch is the reason the motor is stalling (disconnect and shift = still no gear engagement but the motor continues running and you can hear the dogs clanking a bit so not fully engaged). I also figured the 1st thing to check is lower shift cable.

Removed lower and automatic (control) shift cables, pushed lower in to engage forward while spinning prop counterclockwise and = no engagement... Pull and turn prop clockwise and = reverse in gear: clunk (no turn) reversal of prop with clicking but have to apply a little bit of pressure.

I know the only REAL way to tell is to disassemble and diagnose; but does anyone have an opinion on if this is shift cable or damaged dogs/gears?

Also, I am of course going to have to take the out-drive off. Suggestions of what to do for preventative maintenance while working on it would be appreciated as well!

Thanks in advance!

Sinobelus-Boat-Rookie

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: Alpha One Gen II won't shift into forward but reverse is fine. Bad cable or dogs?

shift cable could be damages, roller on shift arm broken, excessive play is shift components. Could be a shift spool, but highly doubtful.
go here for manual 14 and download it http://www.boatfix.com/merc/mainmenu.pdf

 

[bspeth]

Re: Alpha One Gen II won't shift into forward but reverse is fine. Bad cable or dogs?

For pulling the drive just watch the vid in stickys.Check your u joints for play and grease them.Separate the upper and lower and do an impeller if you don't know that it was recently done.Pressure test the drive.Inspect the bellows.grease the driveshaft splines.Check engine alignment.and the big oring gets glued in place with bellows adhesive.The small is held in place with a bit of grease.make sure the drive shifts before filling it back up and installing.Dont reuse any of the gaskets or o rings,they all come with the kit.Wden you get it off you are looking for water intrusion or gear oil.

 

[sinobelus]

Re: Alpha One Gen II won't shift into forward but reverse is fine. Bad cable or dogs?

Cool! Thanks for the input guys.

I found a guy who is going to walk me through the removal and troubleshooting. Will keep you posted on the diagnosis. Cheers!

J

 

[sinobelus]

So a bunch of s*** happened and did't have time to work on boat until recently. When doing impeller took out drain plug and boom! goes into gear??? did some other maintenance blah blah blah... No signs of leakage or metal shavings. Everything working fine in the driveway but when I put it in the water again same problem. I AM A ROOKIE so hoping this is the problem: Both times the shifting issue occurred I now noticed/recall that I did not lower the drive before starting (yes I'm an idiot feel free to remind me...). Also, when taking out the magnetic drain plug I noticed it is tilted to the side and not straight. Could the drain plug magnet be interfering with the dogs engaging gears and getting moved when I start with the outdrive up?

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

So a bunch of s*** happened and did't have time to work on boat until recently. When doing impeller took out drain plug and boom! goes into gear??? did some other maintenance blah blah blah... No signs of leakage or metal shavings. Everything working fine in the driveway but when I put it in the water again same problem. I AM A ROOKIE so hoping this is the problem: Both times the shifting issue occurred I now noticed/recall that I did not lower the drive before starting (yes I'm an idiot feel free to remind me...). Also, when taking out the magnetic drain plug I noticed it is tilted to the side and not straight. Could the drain plug magnet be interfering with the dogs engaging gears and getting moved when I start with the outdrive up?

What does that mean?

You separated the drive and replaced the impeller? While the drive was on the boat or you pulled the whole drive off? We were't there and these things are important in diagnosing.

You know you have to put the drive in forward when you: remove it off the boat, re-install it on the boat, and re-install the two halves back together.

How did you do the impeller with issues engaging forward?

You mentioned you removed the shift cable from the bracket on the engine and in your hand pushed in to engage forward, it didn't....

You have a problem there that has nothing to do with adjustment, or the magnetic drain plug.

 

[sinobelus]

Took the lower unit off to do the impeller. Before the unit came off (since it is suppose to be in forward gear to remove) I notice it was in gear where as before the prop spun freely. Everything in the unit looked fine aside from the seals being worn which we replaced. After everything was back together all appeared to work fine. Sunday when I dropped it in the water I ran into the same issue. At home, put into forward gear and the shift arm (on the outdrive) was not in line with the bow and stern, still slightly to the side and could not manually push it over with my hand to fully engage forward gear. Pulled out the drain plug, (straightened the magnet) and now everything works fine again?...? It seems to me like something is inhibiting the dogs from engaging in forward gear. Going to drop it in again this afternoon and see what happens. Got a trolling motor rigged for backup.

 

[sinobelus]

Good for now Will update when for sure. I am hypothesizing that starting with the outdrive up caused the mag to shift out of drain plug which in turn jamed dogs/gears. Thanks for all the input!