Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

[am_dew]

I've got a vintage Morse side mount thottle/shifter on my 1972 boat. It worked flawlessly until just recently when I had new seats and side panels installed in the boat. They had to unmount the throttle from the side panel and then re-install it once the side panel was ready to go. I asked them to move the throttle up a couple inches so it would be higher and more convenient. So, they did that and I took the boat and found out there was something wrong because I could not get any gas to the engine. So, I took the boat back and they found that something on the back side of the shifter was 90 degrees off from where it was supposed to be. Before taking the boat out again, I ran the engine on the trailer to verify that the shifter was working OK -- it seemed fine, although I had a hard time getting the neutal lock button engaged (by angaged, I mean pulled out). Took the boat out and the thottle worked fine for forward and reverse and straight up neutral, however it is very difficult to pull the neutal lock switch out so that you can proivde more throttle in neutral. For fear of going into either forward or reverse while the engine was running and trying to get the neutral lock button pulled out, I would just shut the engine off and then work the throttle/shifter back and forth in the area right around neutral...eventually I could get the lock button to pull out.

Does anyone have any ideas on what may be causing this issue with it being so difficult to enage the neutral lock button?

My throttle/shifter is just like this one:

 

[captmello]

Re: Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

It's old. Maybe you can lube it.

 

[am_dew]

Re: Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

It's old. Maybe you can lube it.

Yea, I thought about doing that and will try, but the thing is is that it worked fine before it was removed and then re-installed so it almost seems as if it some sort of mechanical issue.

 

[captmello]

Re: Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

Yea, I thought about doing that and will try, but the thing is is that it worked fine before it was removed and then re-installed so it almost seems as if it some sort of mechanical issue.

good point. You may need to pull it and see if you can find something wrong. I wouldn't bring it back to the upholstery guys to fix. "Throttle only" button...

 

[am_dew]

Re: Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

After trying some WD40 on/around the throttle only button and that not helping, I removed the side panel the shifter was mounted to so I could take a look at the back side of the shifter. I tried to figure out how the throttle only button works and removed anything attached to it so I could see if it moved freely and it did. I noticed that the attachment to the back side of the button could be re-assembled two different ways and so I re-assembled it differently and bingo...now it works great. The upholstery guys did not pay close attention to the way it came apart and so they put it back together the wrong way...what's worse is that I was told that a boat mechanic they have help with these kinds of things consulted with them when the throttle/shifter was re-installed. Let's see --at least two hours of my time spent fixing what should have been done right to begin with at their shop rate of $85/hour...sounds like they owe me $170!!

 

[Don S]

Re: Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

Let's see --at least two hours of my time spent fixing what should have been done right to begin with at their shop rate of $85/hour...sounds like they owe me $170!!

No, you should have taken it back to get it fixed right. People make mistakes.

 

[am_dew]

Re: Morse throttle/shifter neutral lock issues

No, you should have taken it back to get it fixed right. People make mistakes.

I understand that people make mistakes, but they clearly should not be messing with these things and instead should leave them to a boat mechanic, so I don't buy that explanation. Especially since I had previously taken it back for them to fix the throttle which would not work (mistake #1) after they hooked it up and while they fixed that, then when I took the boat out, I discovered that the throttle only button would not work properly. They were too busy at the time to have me bring it back in right away and I wanted to go boating yesterday, which is why I took it upon myself to see if I could fix it. It should have been done right the first time, or at least the 2nd time....period.