Shift slide popped off shift cable! Easy to replace core wire?

[JASinIL2006]

I was helping a friend install his Alpha One outdrive after he had a new shift cable installed, and after we had the drive on, we noticed something wasn't correct with the trim rams and we pulled the drive back off. As we did so, the shift slide popped off the end of the shift cable core. On the end of the core wore was the crimped barrel end and a small ring of what looked like cast aluminum. (I'm pretty sure the replacement part was not OEM, maybe Sierra?) I'm assume some part of the casting inside the shift slide broke and allowed the core wire to pass through the front of the shift slide.

From what I can tell, this shift slide and core wire must be replaced; I can't see any way to repair the slide and put the core wire back on.

How difficult a job is it to put in a new core wire and shift slide? It looks like we'd just need to disconnect the wire on engine slide, pull it out and slide in a new core wire with a new shift slide. Is that correct? Is adjustment difficult/tricky? I have a Gen II, and the boat my friend has is the earlier Alpha One.

Thanks!

Jim

 

[bspeth]

If the casting of the slide broke allowing the cable end to come through then just replace the slide.When you disassemble it you will answer your own questions.Easy job.Pull the cable out,thread it through the slide and push it back through.Check stickys for the adjustment.Chris has a good video in there.

 

[Bt Doctur]

the trim rams have nothing to do with the cable slide. In 40 years I have never even seen what you describe. As you pulled the drive off the shift slide was jammed inside it somehow. I get the impression theres something your not telling us.

"I was helping a friend install his Alpha One outdrive after he had a new shift cable installed, and after we had the drive on, we noticed something wasn't correct with the trim rams and we pulled the drive back off. As we did so, the shift slide popped off the end of the shift cable core"

 

[JASinIL2006]

Nothing mysterious... we just forgot to prop up the trim rams until after we had partly slid the drive on to the studs. We had to pull off the drive to raise the rams so they could be attached. The trim rams had nothing to do with the shift slide; they were the reason we had to pull the drive back off.

I don't know if somehow the slide was jammed in and we put too much pressure on it as we removed the drive... we did everything the same as when I've removed my drive, so I'm really not sure if/how the slide got jammed. I was surprised that it broke so easily... we didn't do anything unusual in pulling the drive off after we discovered the rams needed to be moved. We pulled it off and the shift slide came with it... it wasn't even hard to remove the shift slide from the drive.

 

[Bondo]

Nothing mysterious... we just forgot to prop up the trim rams until after we had partly slid the drive on to the studs. We had to pull off the drive to raise the rams so they could be attached. The trim rams had nothing to do with the shift slide; they were the reason we had to pull the drive back off.

I don't know if somehow the slide was jammed in and we put too much pressure on it as we removed the drive... we did everything the same as when I've removed my drive, so I'm really not sure if/how the slide got jammed. I was surprised that it broke so easily... we didn't do anything unusual in pulling the drive off after we discovered the rams needed to be moved. We pulled it off and the shift slide came with it... it wasn't even hard to remove the shift slide from the drive.

Ayuh,... Sounds like a defective slide,...

Have yer friend call the place that did the cable, 'n complain,....

Ya coulda pulled the other ends of the rams, insteada the drive, but it don't matter,....

 

[JASinIL2006]

I wonder if the slide was defective, too. I'm not sure it will help to call the guys who installed it, because my friend supplied the parts. (We was going to do it himself and later decided to have the marina do it. They agreed to use the parts he'd already bought, which was decent of them, I thought.) Maybe he can see about a return/exchange from the vendor...

 

[JASinIL2006]

Update and a question: we were able to replace the shift slide, and everything seemed to go fine. Reinstalled the outdrive, fired up the engine on muffs, and everything seemed to be working.

Here's the problem: when we launched the boat for a test drive, we found the drive was only running in reverse, no matter if the control lever at the helm was in the forward or reverse position!

Does this sound like a shift cable adjustment issue, or did we do something wrong when putting the drive together after changing the water pump?

 

[Bt Doctur]

sounds like you missed putting the wheel in the slot on the shift slide.If you missed the splines for the shift shoe it would be activating the shiftinterupter switch killing the motor when you move the control handel

 

[Bt Doctur]

http://vid57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/BtDoctur/DSCN2491_zpsea1cc235.mp4

 

[JASinIL2006]

We can check that. I was pretty sure that was lined up correctly... I even used the little Mercruiser tool to hold the shift slide in place, and everything looked good, I thought. We'll take it apart and double check.

 

[stonyloam]

If you can move the control freely back and forth, then I agree with the Dr. Sounds like the roller on the shift shaft lever is in front of the fork on the slide rather than between the two arms.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Bt Doctur, I was reading from my iPad when I first saw you reply and I missed the link to the video. That is very helpful! Thank you! I thought we had everything together correctly, but now I know exactly how it works and I can re-check our work. Thanks again!

 

[JASinIL2006]

Just wanted to update everyone on this problem and it's solution. The problem was that the Alpha 1 drive would only run in reverse following a water pump change and the replacement of a shift cable bellows and shift cable.

We pulled the drive and checked the linkages as Bt Doctur and stonyloam suggested. Everything seemed to be as it should; we readjusted the shift cable per the manual, we checked the operation of the shift slide and how it mated with the the shift shaft. Everything seemed to be working the way it should, except that we still were only getting reverse gear.

The only thing we could figure is when my buddy reassembled the outdrive after the water pump change, he locked the propeller in reverse rather than in forward. We pulled the drive, drained it and pulled the upper and lower units apart, and sure enough, the shift shaft was set in reverse. We set it to forward, locked the propeller as it should be, mated the upper and lower units, and voila! Everything works like it should.

The real kicker is that my friend had this boat in a shop for two weeks and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. With your help and a bit of trial and error, we were able to figure it out! Moreover, thanks to Bt Doctur's video, we now have a much better understanding of the shifting mechanism.

Thanks for the help! Another successful iBoats ending!

 

[Bt Doctur]

The reason I think most people do that is because they think the prop is locked in fwd . The prop is turned to the right by the gears when they are turning in fwd. The prop will actually ratchet if you turn it in its fwd directionCW if the control box is in fwd.
So to actually lock the prop in fwd you need to turn it backwards CCW to lock the gears. Some refer to it as locking it in reverse, but that's not correct.
Also when the units are bolted together a quick test of the shift shoe rotation will confirm its correct. fwd at 12:00 , N at about 11:00, and R at about 10:30

 

[JASinIL2006]

I would say that's a lesson that was learned! We both agreed that this is probably the sort of mistake a person only makes once...