Yamaha inboard question

Hey guys,

Have an older Stamas fishing boat that has a Yamaha 350 inboard and out drive. Boat has sat for about a year and I fired her up yesterday and she purs like a kitten. The boat is stuck in reverse though. I followed the shifter cable from the throttle down the engine, checked the bracket on the engine and followed the cable from the engine to the out drive and it looks like the cable going into the out drive is messed up. So I started pulling this Yamaha out drive, pulled the 6 bolts and the 2 trim pistons and the drive still wont budge. Is there a trick to pulling these Yamaha drives? Usually you just pull the 6 nuts and remove the trim pistons and the drive pops off. It looks like the previous owner bumped the drive on the bottom or a rock because the prop is beat up pretty badly so I'm thinking when that happened it messed up the cable inside of the drive? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Re: Yamaha inboard question

Hmmm, never saw one in a stamas before. Someone musta repowered it with the Yamaha.
What happens is the holes around the studs corrode up and seize around the studs. With the rams off and clearance under the drive, lift the drive up and drop it a couple of time. Sometimes the shock will start shaking it loose. If not, there is two notches for screwdrivers, one on each side. I have had to drive metal wedges between the drive and gimbal to get them off. You probably have a frozen shift fork.

Re: Yamaha inboard question

thank you very much Ken. Does seem like the studs are corroded and sticky and it also seems like the shift cable is ok. I have a little play with the other end but it seems frozen inside the drive. Sorry to ask newbie questions but is there an online diagram floating around that i could use once I pull the out drive and start messing with the shifter fork?

Re: Yamaha inboard question

None that I know about. Clymer makes a manual if you can find one.

Re: Yamaha inboard question

ok thank you, so when I pull the drive off from what I've read I have to remove the lower unit to gain access to the shifter fork?

Re: Yamaha inboard question

Go onto eBay. Search ' Yamaha sterndrive', and you will see a bunch of Clymer manuals for sale. That's where I got mine.

Re: Yamaha inboard question

the shifter cable is ok it goes in and out perfectly fine. the drive itself shifts perfectly fine but the bushings that attach the shift cable to the fork in the gimbal housing that attaches to the drives and enables shifting were shot. Where can I ge these bushings at?

Re: Yamaha inboard question

Roller on shifter arm? You've got me confused.

Re: Yamaha inboard question

Needless to say, you can not buy the bushings separate from the shift arms and for some reason my Yamaha program isn't wanting to open to check stock.
OK, it opened up. If you are speaking of the bronze arm that fits into the shift slide on the end of the cable, there is none in the states but 5 in Japan. They list for $127.89. I've probably got some used ones laying somewhere.

Re: Yamaha inboard question

Capt. ken, the shift cable arm that slides over the cable, where it attaches to the shift cable detent plate, there are a few bushings in that setup that are missing. My original problem with the boat when I received it was it was stuck in reverse. So I removed the drive and it seemed very tight. The shift cable itself after I lubed it moved very well so I don't think it needs to be replaced?!

Re: Yamaha inboard question

If you are talking about the alum slide that attaches the end of the cable, there is no bushings anywhere in there.
You can use this site to identify the parts and get part numbers. Just don't use the 1992 drives, that's the hydra-drives and nothing like what you have. Yamaha OEM Parts