omc 5.8L Z-drive Gear adjustment

a1a2a3a4

Cadet
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
10
Hi
I am based in Malta and have a boat with OMC 5.8L 1989.
Last year I had a slight problem to get the z-drive disengaged from forward to neutral. It was intermittently doing this but I always was afraid that I would not manage to get it to neutral at some time so I decided to get of the z-drive off and start the adjustment procedure you have listed in your website.
I checked all the cables and these were fine. I believed that all I needed is proper adjustment.
With the Z-drive removed I started by making the transom shift cable a distance of 19.4cm as stated. (My problem here is the position of the attachment (cable fork) with the z-drive. Since it must be at exact neutral position.) Is there a simple way to adjust this attachment?

After I mounted the z-drive and tested the transom shift cable. While my child rotated the propeller shaft I engaged forward/reverse and back to neutral easily by hand using only the transom shift cable alone.

Then I followed the 5 steps of the engine shift bracket adjustment but strangely enough after these steps neutral and backwards were ok but forward was not engaging or partly engaged when using the **** controller.

"5 Steps of the Engine Shift Bracket Adjustment"
1. Forward Over stroke Adjustment
Centre the cable anchor located in the angled slot on the top of the shift lever. Install the remote control shift cable, control box in FORWARD GEAR FULL THROTTLE. Pull out on the casing guide to remove any slack. Adjust the shift cable trunnion to canter the forward (fixed) over stroke cam with the switch button on the over stroke switch.
2. Forward Gear Engagement
Install the transom bracket shift cable, control box is still in forward gear full throttle. PULL OUT ON THE TRANSOM BRACKET SHIFT CABLE TO FULLY ENGAGE THE CLUTCH DOG WHILE SOMEONE ROTATES THE PROPELLER. Make sure you pull back on the shift cable to remove all the end play from the system as you adjust the black barrel trunnion. When installed correctly and all slack is out of the system the load lever will "rock upward stiffly" and "rock downward easily" but should always canter itself!
3.Reverse Gear Engagement
Shift the control box into REVERSE GEAR FULL THROTTLE; loosen the 7/16" nut in the angled slot at the top of the shift lever on the shift bracket. PUSH DOWN on the shift lever while someone rotates the propeller to FULLY ENGAGE THE CLUTCH DOG. While holding down on the shift lever, remove all slack from the remote control shift cable by pulling its casing guide to the rear of the boat. Be careful not to preload the system. Then tighten the 7/16" nut securely. When adjusted properly, and all play removed, the load lever will "rock downward stiffly" and "rock upward easily", but will always centre itself.
4. Reverse Overt stroke Adjustment
Adjust the reverse over stroke cam to centre itself with the switch button on the over stroke switch (3/8" nut). The control box is still in reverse gear full throttle. "PW thru RG" (sic) models will probably not have a reverse over stroke cam.


I tried the above procedure several times with no success. I believe I am missing some basic step.

I appreciate any help.

Thank you very much.
Hansel Tonna
 

a1a2a3a4

Cadet
Joined
Sep 2, 2008
Messages
10
Re: omc 5.8L Z-drive Gear adjustment

Hi Today i spent another day trying to adjust my omc shifting steem. (it is the 4th day i spent on this matter)
I carefully read all information i could gether which i found very helpful and tried to combine some of help full hints with my manual.

I think that i managed to adjust the gears but i have some questions for you, just to verify some steps. I also checked the shift road distance and it seems to be ok. I also checked the bell crank and also seems ok.

I adjusted the distance of the transom shift cable between the middli of the pin and the cable fixxed nut to 19.4cm as stated in the manual. Then i adjusted the bell crank fork to be flash with the housing and assembled the z-drive. I re checked the 19.4cm distance changed to 18.9cm. i do not know if this is ok because on the manual it oes not say anything about distance after the z-drive is assembled. I shifted the gears forward neutral /reveres and back to neutral while my child rotates the shaft using only the transom shift cable and the final distance in neutral position remained 18.9cm. I decided to continue because i tried everything i could imagine to get this distance 19.4cm to no avail. Then i followed the 5 Steps of the Engine Shift Bracket Adjustment" And tested. The gears seems to be engaging properly. When engaged in reverse and forward the shaft would not turn in no direction. Even the ideal switch is positioned in the grove and when it does not engage because i need to rotate the shaft i could see the ideal switch goes out of the grove to slow the engine speed.(I need to test this in practice because i did not switch on the engine yet)

I also shifted to forward and dismantled the Z-drive and checked the shift rod and it was to its maximum height.

Do you think i can switch on the engine or the distance must be definitely 19.4cm?

Thanks for your time Hansel.
 

a70eliminator

Captain
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
Messages
3,688
Re: omc 5.8L Z-drive Gear adjustment

You can't adjust a worn out cable, if it's streched beyond spec you'll never get it to shift properly, if your doing everything by the book with no avail then replace the cable, it's probably due.
 
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