omc cobra gears...time to replace???

Hello all! Here is my question. I have a Bayliner cobra with an 87 OMC Cobra outdrive. I've owned the boat for a few years now and it has never shifted correctly. Last year I did get the ESA working correctly and adjusted the shift cables as good as they could get. It was am improvement but not right It was a really fine line getting the shift cable adjusted correctly and the outdrive had excessive slippage going in to gear (forward and reverse). The boat has the red shift cables and visually appear to be in good condition.

Just had the boat out once so far this season and the shifting seems to be the worst it has ever been, the boat came out of forward gear going about 25-30 mph and would not go into forward or reverse...which it has never done before ...so as far as I can tell this thing needs new gears which are on the way. I just don?t hear of too many people replacing their gears on these forums? Am I correct by thinking this outdrive is due for new gears?

I am a very mechanical person and have done much research on these outdrives...anyone out there ever replace their gears themselves that did not do marine repair as an 8-5 job?

Re: omc cobra gears...time to replace???

Uh, you ordered new gears without tearing it down? Did you drain the gear oil to look for metal? You could possibly only need a new shift cable. But, in any case, I've never had to replace the gears on my Cobra. And I wouldn't attempt it anyway, as I don't have the proper tools. You can't just slap 'em together.

Re: omc cobra gears...time to replace???

Get an OEM service manual! You can't properly adjust the shift cables without the factory manual. It's just not do-able unless you know the manual by heart. If you adjusted them by feel or what you thought made sense, you were very likely wrong.

For example - did you know the adjustment at the drive for the transom shift cable has a tolerance of only 1/32 of an inch, or that the transom shift cable can't require more than 2.5lbs of drag or it needs to be replaced or re-routed? Cobra drives are ultra-reliable if they are maintained by the book, not by "well I work on engines so I can figure this out". That's when you blow gears.

At the end of the day, though, if your drive was popping out of gear, your dog clutch is likely toast, too.

As the previous poster stated, you need to figure out what's wrong before buying parts.

Manuals are available on eBay. They'll save you thousands of dollars!

Re: omc cobra gears...time to replace???

Well thanks for the reply?s...I am open to all suggestions and advice I can get...I do have a manual on the way...are the OEM original manuals pretty detailed as far as this kind of service is concerned?

I did however adjust my shift cable and ESA as per the Hastings page.

Thanks
Aj

Re: omc cobra gears...time to replace???

The problem is going to be all the special tools required for the job. Once you get the manual, you can look through it to see if you are up to the task.