alpha one shfter moves out of gear on its own.

last season while cruising across the lake at a good clip i ran across some good chop so i decided to pull the throttle back. unfortunately i grabbed the shifter leaver instead, whoops. so i pulled the throttle back and frazzled i accidentally put it back into gear before the motor was back to idle. it seemed to work fine after that but i noticed shortly after that the shifter lever slowly creeps back toward neutral and will pop into neutral if you dont hold it in gear. the drive works fine with no unusual noises or vibes. does this sound like cable adjustment or clutch dog or something completely different. boat is a 1993 baja 350 mag alpha 1.

Re: alpha one shfter moves out of gear on its own.

does this sound like cable adjustment or clutch dog or something completely different. boat is a 1993 baja 350 mag alpha 1.

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Howdy, and welcome to iboats!

unfortunately i grabbed the shifter leaver instead, whoops. so i pulled the throttle back and frazzled i accidentally put it back into gear before the motor was back to idle.

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One of the reasons NOT to have a double (separated) shift quadrant I guess......

Shift dogs in an I/O (and outboards too probably) are "under-cut" exactly for this reason. torque on the "dogs" make it hard (or impossible) to separate when under high torque.

If they're worn out or damaged, (or not all the way together) it's possible to get them apart when they shouldn't or they don't stay together.

Also, pushing them back together at higher than idle RPM can break pieces off, round the edges, or both....


If your cables are otherwise adjusted properly, you may need to replace the sliding clutch or associated parts (gear set etc....)


That might mean a complete drive rebuild.


Sorry about that......


Rick

Re: alpha one shfter moves out of gear on its own.

Haven't used a control of that kind since the early 70's....what I remember though was a mechanical bind (kind of an early lock-out) that would make it difficult to and need to break something to shift if the throttle was advanced much above idle....possibly this "lock-out" device in the control box is damaged/broken....sure worth a look much cheaper and less work if that is it....

Just sayin....