Shifting to reverse

Mercruiser 120hp Alpha 1 1983. I pulled the drive to replace the u joints. Shifted to forward pulled drive replaced the joints, tied the prop in forward with a bungee cord and replaced the drive. It went in all the way with no forcing. Just slipped in to about 3/4 " and a slight push and it went home. Now it shifts to forward and throttle works fine. Trying to shift to reverse it moves about 1" and seems to be in reverse(cannot move prop). The shifter does not move the throttle cable after this small movement. What did i screw up. It seems something is binding the cable. These are new cables and a new shift cable and new shift bushings. Worked fine before I removed drive. Please help!

Re: Shifting to reverse

sounds like shift shaft and shift cable fork is not lined up properly.may need to repull the drive and check.see what some one else thinks.

Re: Shifting to reverse

Remove the bungee, put it in neutral. Prop should spin. Then put it in reverse, try to turn the prop clockwise, if it stops it's in reverse.
Now will the stick increase throttle opening by moving it back further?
If it does you may have had the drive stuck in forward by maintaining pressure on the bungee when it was in forward before. It can't get out of gear til the driveline is unloaded, that's why I said to remove the bungee til it was in gear.

If I'm off track I apologize. If the thing just won't throttle up in reverse, try going back and forth from forward to reverse a couple of times. You don't need to do it really fast, just go forward, neutral, reverse a few times without the bungee. When it's in Neutral try the high idle position too, does it open the throttle more?

Re: Shifting to reverse

The shift dog was straight and matched perfect with the out drive. I don't know it the shift cable block has to go into the drive at some determined position. Maybe this is what is screwed up. The bungee cord was taken off after the install and it shifts forward fine. It moves to reverse about an inch at the shifter and puts the drive in reverse, but the cable will not move any further to get throttle movement. The shifter works fine with the cables disconnected. Any other ideas before I pull the drive again? I have not started and run the engine. Will this help?

Re: Shifting to reverse

geo7 said:

The shift dog was straight and matched perfect with the out drive. I don't know it the shift cable block has to go into the drive at some determined position. Maybe this is what is screwed up. The bungee cord was taken off after the install and it shifts forward fine. It moves to reverse about an inch at the shifter and puts the drive in reverse, but the cable will not move any further to get throttle movement. The shifter works fine with the cables disconnected. Any other ideas before I pull the drive again? I have not started and run the engine. Will this help?

Click to expand...

Ayuh,.... The Throttle is irrelevant to the shiftin' cable,...

The only commonality is at the controller...

Re: Shifting to reverse

Right, it sounds like the controller won't move the throttle in reverse. That's why I was saying to go through it's all it's ranges of movement including neutral raised throttle. It could free up.

Re: Shifting to reverse

Buckin fROKE said:

sounds like shift shaft and shift cable fork is not lined up properly.may need to repull the drive and check.see what some one else thinks.

Click to expand...

+1 The little wheel on underside the upper shift shaft lever is not between the fork arms of the shift slide. Should look like photo #4 here http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=578805 That was convenient

Re: Shifting to reverse

Yes , you guys were right on the money. Had to pull the drive again. it was the wheel that goes in the shift block. It moved during install of the drive and fell out of the grooves. All is good again until next time. THANKS A MILLION FOR THE HELP.