290A drive wont shift into gear

[brando913]

Pulled the gear housing off my 290A DP to access the bellows and water intake fitting. I replaced the two O rings, put everything back together and now cant get it to go into forward or reverse. I also now have water in the upper unit. I checked the gear linkage and believe I hooked everything back up correctly. I read in one of the posts that there is a seal in the upper unit that keeps water out. If so, could someone verify this and tell me where the seal would be? Also, any ideas on what to check for the shifting issue? I'm guessing I didnt put something back correctly because everything was fine before I pulled the upper housing. Thanks for any ideas!

 

[Don S]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

put everything back together and now cant get it to go into forward or reverse.

Did you put the shaft coupler between the upper and lower back in?

The seal is around the ujoint shaft where it goes into the drive. The reason it isn't designed to keep water out, is because the bellows is supposed to do that. If there is water in your bellows, then you have worse problems.

 

[brando913]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

I pulled the upper unit and ujoints out as one pc. I didn't disconnect the ujoints from the drive housing. The ujoints are dry as well as the bellows. The water got into the upper unit. I noticed it when I pulled the shift plate off. I disconnected the linkage and checked the shift rod and it moves fine when the shifter is put in forward/reverse. I took off the shift plate again and the eccentric and shift shoe seem fine with no binding or obvious damage. I took the upper unit off again just to recheck everything. The boat was running after I originally pulled the upper this week so all of the parts seem to be working fine. The problem seems to be something in the linkage thats not allowing it to shift. Something I probably didn't hook back up correctly. I'll backtrack and check this again.
My bigger concern is how the water is getting in. I'm only running it on muffs right now.

Is there something I could have overlooked when putting the upper unit back on? I'm using a Clymer shop manual for the Volvo and it only referred to the two O rings that needed to be replaced when removing/reinstalling the upper unit.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Don S]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

I'm referring to the vertical shaft coupler between the upper and lower units.
It's about 3" long and around an inch OD with splines all the way through the inside.

Item #1 in the picture below.

PS: Go up to the Adults Only sticky and download the OEM service manual for your drive. The clymers are used for knee pads, not information on boat repair.

 

[brando913]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

kneepads...Ha! I got a good laugh outta that one after spending all day on this! I did not replace that seal. I did replace the small o ring #4 and the larger one that isnt numbered in the pic but larger than the shim.

I took all of the linkage and shift plate off again and rechecked to make sure I was hooking it back up correctly. Everything moves and works fine until I hook it all back together. Still cant get it to shift when hooked back up. Any ideas?

Thanks for the direction on the shaft coupler.

 

[Don S]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

Still cant get it to shift when hooked back up. Any ideas?

I'm going to try this ONE MORE TIME.

DID YOU PUT Item #1 in the picture above, BACK IN THE DRIVE??????
IF NOT, IT WILL NOT MOVE THE PROP.

 

[brando913]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

I didnt say anything about the prop not moving...I said the linkage was binding up and it would not shift into forward or reverse.

The shaft coupler was never removed so I'm assuming its still installed.

 

[brando913]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

Ok, I've isolated the SHIFTING problem to the shift plate. Everything works and moves correctly when its off. The shaft coupler is in place, everything turns. The problems seems to be when the shift plate is on, the shift shoe is pushed forward to the point of locking in place and wont allow the eccentric to move in either direction. When I back the adjustment screw on the shift plate back a couple of turns, its allowing the eccentric to move both directions and allowing the gear assembly to move.
If the screw is adjusted backwards like this, its loose and seems like it would just vibrate out eventually. Also, it was never in the loosened position before so I'm back to something I'm missing when putting the shift shoe and eccentric back on the shift plate.
Any helpful ideas would be appreciated!

Concerning the water in the upper drive, I've pulled the upper unit again and checked the O rings. They both seem fine, fit snug and we're installed correctly (just like the pic you sent) but if this is the only way that water can get in then I guess I'll replace them again. Any other idea's????

 

[brando913]

Re: 290A drive wont shift into gear

Just to be perfectly clear...The adjustment screw is actually on the eccentric itself. I think I said it was on the shift plate but was mistaken.