Shift problems - Bravo One

1996 Bravo One on 1996 454 Magnum EFI in a Baja

- Remote shift cable from control to shift arm working properly

- Drive unit shift cable appears to be working OK on shift arm

- When starting motor, drive is already in reverse. When the shift lever is moved all the way forward or back the drive does not go into neutral or forward. Just stays in reverse. Can't even take out of gear.

- Suspecting that my drive shift cable is broken / disconnected.

- Any other way to troubleshoot / adjust / repair other than removing the stern drive?

- Should I inspect the cable in the bellows where it goes from the bell housing to outdrive? Or wouldn't it matter?

- Have read that removing the stern drive can be tough. Wondering if I should even attempt by myself with the help of a friend. Could a mechanic remove the stern drive and replace cable while boat is on a lift under a covered dock? Don't want to trailer. Any idea how many hours of labor this would involve?

Thanks

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

No it can not be done on a lift at the dock. Unless you or your mechanic can walk on water.
The drive is heavy, yes, but not impossible for one person to remove. I removed my Bravo 3 by myself all the time. It's nice to have a second person, though.

I suspect that when your drive was reinstalled, the "jaws" on the shift cable in the drive, were closed, and now the shift cable from the boat can't push it out of reverse. And yes, you have probably damaged the cable that goes through the transom. And you have to take the drive off to see it.
If it's just a case of removing the drive, pulling the cables out where they are supposed to be, lining up the jaws, and reinstalling, a pro can do that in about 30 minutes. If it's much more than that, the number of hours will go up exponentially.

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

What he said. I've done exactly this before. Its easy to do, and easy to fix. Its just annoying to have to do it. If the shift jaw is pushed inward, get a pick with a 90 degree bend on the end, and you can use that to hook in there and pull the jaw out where it can be accessed again.

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

i just totally did this last weekend my self.

YOU HAVE TO PUT THE BOAT ON A TRAILER THERES NO OTHER WAY!
If you are 100% sure its the lower cable then you are correct either the cable is broken or not connected in the drive. If you dissconnect the lower cable at the engine you should be able to shift your shifter. If it moves then you have ruled out the shifter and cables. You will now have to pull the drive and try shifting w/ all cables in place. They say not to shift a bravo with the engine off but it can be done for trouble shooting such as this.



DO NOT try to pull the drive with the boat on a lift in the water because I garentee you will be buying a new stern drive because yours will be at the bottom of the marina. The bravo one is one heavy son of a "B".

Depending how bad you bent the end of the shift cable you may be able to streighten it out. I bent mine and had to do that, it wasnt pretty and this is not normally a good idea.

With the shift jaw all the way out the bravo is in full reverse. I put my drive back on in reverse with the shift handle in reverse. I talked to my machanic and he said you can do it in neutral. I just had a hard time getting the cable back in the jaw in neutral as it seemed too much cable was sticking out but my machanic says if you have the drive in reverse and the shifter in neutral and place the cable in the jaw the drive will shift to neutral when you slide it in. You have to be carefull when you do that or youll bend the cable like I did. Thats why I did it in reverse.

The bravo drives are a bit stiff to shift but yours is newer then mine so yours may be smoother as it would have updated parts in the clutch. Mine is a 93 and its a bit tougher to shift then my previous alpha drive.

good luck and let us know how you make out. I am in the processes of testing my boat after working on it last week and I may find myself pulling my drive again. Id really like to know what your problem was and how you fixed it.

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

Leave the shifter handle in the boat in Neutral. That is the right way to do it. If that creates problems, then you have some other problem with the cable in the boat.
I sure wish I was in SC, cause I'd love to show you how really simple this all is. It just has to be done while the boat is on the trailer.

And just for reference, a Bravo 1 full of oil and with a stainless steel prop installed, weighs in the neighborhood of 140lbs. My Bravo three with props weighed over 153lbs. So one guy can do it, but 2 is helpful.

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

Was able to get the drive about 1 3/4 inches off but for some reason it does not want to come off or even go back on again. Can't imagine what is stopping it. It wiggles and seems loose but something is stopping it. Don't know if it's the spline or what. Need ideas here. We had 3 people pulling and pushing on this drive...

Shift cable moved in / out well when the shift lever was moved so I think it just came out of the jaws. Think I could allign the cable to the jaws if I could just get the drive to go back on.

Why do you think that this drive is stuck 1 3/4 away from the bell housing?

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

OK I think that the reason the drive was binding was because I didn't do step #1 (take off speedometer cable). I didn't take off the fitting because the hose was broken. But I think the little plastic fitting can catch on the bell housing and make it tough to move on / off.

Anyway, now I have the drive off. Want to make sure that I do everything that I should while it's off

- inspect gimble bearing
- lubricate u-joints

need to read what else to do. Or if someone could tell me that would be a great cross check.

tks

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

Question on the Bravo One shift cable jaws / shifter.

I had to pull the drive (which I now have off) because the drive was stuck in reverse and the shift lever, when moved, did not move the drive into neutral or forward.

Now that the drive is off I can see that the shift cable is moving properly when the shift lever is moved from Rev to N to Forward. I'm assuming my shift cable and or adjustment is not the problem.

Could the shift cable have come out of the jaws on it's own when the drive was still attached? I may have moved the shift lever when the engine was not running to clean around it. Now I know to NEVER do this. Could this have disconnected the cable out of the jaws?

I'm guessing that the drive is still in reverse as it was when I removed it from the bell housing. Is there any way to pull or push on the shift jaws to move the drive into neutral?

Getting ready to put the drive back on and want to make sure that I have the shift lever in the right position. Guessing that I should try to do it in neutral from what I've read. Correct?

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

Need assistance.

I removed the drive, pulled the cables out where they were supposed to be, lined up the jaws, and reinstalled.

Started it up and it was in Neutral like it was supposed to be. Moved shift lever into forward. It stayed in neutral.

****ed into reverse and it performed properly.

Then when I tried to move into neutral there was no response. it stayed in reverse.

Tried it a couple of other times and it did go into neutral from the get go but would always get stuck in reverse. Shift lever had no impact.

Could it be a cable adjustment? Do they stretch? Know of any posts that cover a Bravo One shift cable adjustment?


thanks

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

Cables do stretch. Yours sure sounds like an adjustment issue to me. Or the cable itself is frayed, kinked, damaged, somewhere inside the boat. But I am guessing. My cable was 10 years old with 800 hours on it, and worked perfectly!

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

OK. Two other questions:

- If I pull the drive again can I test the shift mechanism by "grapping" the jaws and pulling "out" to simulate reverse, "push in" to move into forward and have a neutral in between? Was talking with a mechanis on the phone today and I thought he said to do this while spinning the prop. Is this correct?

- If while the drive is pulled can I have someone move the shift lever in the boat and I can see if the shift cable is moving strongly and smoothly back where it comes out of the bell housing? Would this not tell me if the cable is damaged in the boat somewhere?

Trying to isolate this problem.

Thanks

Re: Shift problems - Bravo One

You aren't supposed to shift those drive without them turning. So I am not sure I would mess with the lower shift cable in the drive, that much.
The idea of watching the cable from the boat is a good one. The fact that your cable is having trouble pushing the lower cable back into neutral and into forward gear, tells me that it could have a fray or kink in it. But again, I am no expert, I just know that the cable from the boat "pushes" the lower cable in the drive to make the drive go into forward, and it "pulls" on it, to make it go into reverse.