Can't put motor in forward with control lever

I'm working on a 1959 Evinrude 50 hp outboard. Runs fine except for putting it in forward with the control lever. I can easily put it in forward at the motor. It seems to be a cable problem, but I have made every adjustment possible, including shortening the cable, but it needs to pull about another 1/4inch to go in gear. You can try to put it in forward, then go back to motor and manually pull it the rest of the way in gear with little effort. Anyone have any thoughts?

Re: Can't put motor in forward with control lever

boatman1952 said:

I'm working on a 1959 Evinrude 50 hp outboard. Runs fine except for putting it in forward with the control lever. I can easily put it in forward at the motor. It seems to be a cable problem, but I have made every adjustment possible, including shortening the cable, but it needs to pull about another 1/4inch to go in gear. You can try to put it in forward, then go back to motor and manually pull it the rest of the way in gear with little effort. Anyone have any thoughts?

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If "shortening the cable" means you have cut the wire, you may have ruined it. It may no longer be able to go into both forward and reverse.

However, on to the question at hand. Is there a lot of slop in the gearshift linkage on the motor? In other words, lost motion. When the gearshift lever moves, the shift rod must move with no lost motion. You can see the shift rod through the access plate(s) on the side of the midsection. If everything is tight, have you tried adjusting the gearshift lever on the motor? There are two screws holding it on. Loosening both screws will allow some adjustment. Adjust it to the rear to get a better "bite".

Re: Can't put motor in forward with control lever

This sounds like a good plan. Didn't find anything like that in the manual.

Thanks!

Re: Can't put motor in forward with control lever

i agree , if you have made all the adjustments at the motor possible then i would go to the control box and adjust the cable some in there . you may find that the cable has stretched threw the years and some slackcould be taken here . while in the control box you can do a little p.m inspection and lube all the needed areas.

Re: Can't put motor in forward with control lever

just went through about the same problem my shifter on the control box wouldn't move at all wife had to cut the engine off while pulling a skiier cause couldn't slow down, ended up replaceing cables to fix the problem