1976 (IIRC) Mercruiser 260 Outdrive not going into gear

[Hoss 350]

Good morning, gents. I helped my neighbor launch his 28 foot cabin cruiser last night, for the first time in two years. It has a mercruiser 260 5.7 liter engine, and whatever outdrive they would have put on a rig like that. The labels are all faded, but maybe it said 800 on it? I just couldn't read it.

Anyway, after messing around with it in his driveway for an hour or so summerizing it, it fired right up and ran like a top. Launched it, took it out across lake Coeur d'Alene, which was awesome.

But when we made it to the marina to store it, it stopped going into forward gear. The dog clutches just ground, but no engage.

It is a two-stick unit, one for throttle, one for forward and reverse. The throttle didn't seem to want to return to idle fully, and it was idling high, at that, so i adjusted the idle down a little bit, and it would engage again, but only twice before it started grinding and not engaging again.

I have resolved to put a throttle return spring on it, to fix the sticky throttle return issues and save his outdrive, but for the life of me, I have no idea why it won't engage in forward.

At the back of the engine, there are two linkages for shift. They both come off of one lever, which I assume is the gear engage lever. One is red, one is black. I don't know which is forward, and which is reverse, never really worked on a mercruiser before.

What I DO know is that the red linkage, the one closest to the FRONT of the engine, is loose. THe adjust nut was spinning by fingers.

So, I have concluded that the adjustment vibrated loose upon our launch and subsequent lake tour, and that it is simply either too long or too short to fully engage the shift lever.

I suspect that it is too long, based on looking at the setup, as it appears that the shift cable PULLS the lever towards itself when trying to engage.

Now, here is the problem. I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know if OVER or UNDER adjustment can hurt something, I don't know what is right, or even how to gauge or measure the proper adjustment. i assume that this is like a transmission or a rear end lash adjustment. You can get it working, but it may not be right, and can hurt things if it isn't. So I wanted advice on what you learned gents think may be going on. Thanks in advance, and sorry this is so long...

[Haut Medoc]

Is this a sterndrive or an inboard?....

[Hoss 350]

Is this a sterndrive or an inboard?....

Sorry, I thought the terms sterndrive and outdrive were interchangeable. Learn something new every day.

It is an i/o, sterndrive setup.

[Haut Medoc]

What year?.....
There should be a lower shift cable & an upper shift cable.....
Is it possible to post a pic of the shift assembly?....

[erikgreen]

Sorry, I thought the terms sterndrive and outdrive were interchangeable. Learn something new every day.

It is an i/o, sterndrive setup.

They are generally interchangeable, it's just that we see "sterndrive" more than "outdrive"

[Hoss 350]

1976 Mercruiser 260 5.7 liter.

Unfortunately, i had no camera last night, and the boat is about 2 hours away. I'm a good neighbor, but not that good!

[Hoss 350]

Okay, I've been searching the site for quite a while, and can't seem to find what i'm looking for there. One thing I did notice is that it seems all of the pics and diagrams of mercruiser linkages that I can find show a vertical arrangements, that is, one cable OVER the other.

This setup has the cables right next to each other, laid out horizontally. One red, one black. The red one is loose.

BTW, I forgot to mention that it goes into and out of reverse just slicker than snot, and went into forward the same until (I assume) the link adjustment got bunged up.

Hope someone can help. Thanks

[Don S]

Merc didn't even have a 260 designation till 79, and if you just assumed it was a 260 because it was a Chevy 350, then it would have been a 255. But the only drive used in 76 with a 350 was the II-TR. But it had a transmission inside the boat that did the shifting.
In 77 Merc used the 'One' drive, which is similar in operation to todays Alpha's.
It sounds like you are describing a shift plate that has the shift interrupt system on it, but hard to say for sure. Of course, if it's ever been repowered, then who knows.

[Hoss 350]

Merc didn't even have a 260 designation till 79, and if you just assumed it was a 260 because it was a Chevy 350, then it would have been a 255.

Said 260 right on the valve cover, right bank facing forward. Repower? Possibly misread the year?

But the only drive used in 76 with a 350 was the II-TR. But it had a transmission inside the boat that did the shifting.

Don't believe that this is it, then. This outdrive looks like a regular old Mercruiser to me.

In 77 Merc used the 'One' drive, which is similar in operation to todays Alpha's.

I'm relatively sure that that is it, then. Maybe instead of 800, it was a faded ONE. Possibly the born on date read '78 and I misread 76, then. Everything is so faded and worn.

It sounds like you are describing a shift plate that has the shift interrupt system on it, but hard to say for sure. Of course, if it's ever been repowered, then who knows.

That is exactly what i'm describing. Just didn't have the words for it until now. It looks very similar to other shift systems on other Mercs I've seen, only a horizontal layout of cables (side by side) rather than vertical (one over the other).

Lets assume that even if the boat is a '76, that she's been re-powered with a 260 and One drive setup. Does anyone have pictures of this setup, or maybe a link to a manual with illustrations that I can use? I hate to be that guy, believe me, over on Superduty Diesel forums, I dislike when newbies come in and don't have the right info, but it will be a 4 hour round trip to go out and get this info (and it isn't even my boat!)

It looks like I haven't come armed with enough information.... Sorry, guys!

[Hoss 350]

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6A2R3.PDF

This is really similar to the setup, only the one I'm looking at lays flat, instead of on edge like this one.

See page 20 of 26, the one that reads "older units with metal shifter"

keep in mind that this boat has twin stick controls, one to shift gears, one for throttle.

[Don S]

Have a look at this manual it's for the one drives from 120 to 260's from 78 to 82. Bet it has what you want in it. Just don't get in a hurry for it, it's just over 300 MB in size. But, it's free.

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mne...l/04/cover.pdf

[Hoss 350]

Have a look at this manual it's for the one drives from 120 to 260's from 78 to 82. Bet it has what you want in it. Just don't get in a hurry for it, it's just over 300 MB in size. But, it's free.

http://www-alt.mercurymarine.com/mne...l/04/cover.pdf

That's it! Thanks Don! Thanks to Haut and the others that helped, too! That has a perfect step by step of what I need to do. PERFECT!