Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

RSVRMAN

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Mar 31, 2013
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I have a 4.3L Merc alpha 1 gen 2.

I have taken apart the whole shift assembly and lubricated it. Disconnected each cable and continuously pulled the lever. I wish I would have just hit the choke button from the beginning and I would have known right then it was this cable. I know its the one I'm pointing to as after I disconnected it was very easy to move the lever.

Anyways I'm about done tearing into this boat for the year and really don't want to replace this cable until winter. I used to lube shift cables on motorcycles and used my air compressor at a low PSI to get the lubricant through. I have never seen the plastic ends on cables like this in the picture. Can they be removed and if so how do you remove them? Any one have a video or pic showing how to get them disconnected? 20130522_222131.jpg
 

RSVRMAN

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Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

I have undone the everything but cant get the plastic end off. I attempted to push on these tiny square pieces that are just past my finger in the picture. Are these threaded in as I can remove them or are they factory sealed on there? The are the tiny square metal pieces just past my finger.
 

smokeonthewater

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Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

they are threaded BUT don't lubricate the cable.... It is designed to run without lube as it gets water inside. If it needs lube it is worn out and needs replaced... they are cheap and it's worth changing for smooth shifting
 

RSVRMAN

Petty Officer 3rd Class
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Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

they are threaded BUT don't lubricate the cable.... It is designed to run without lube as it gets water inside. If it needs lube it is worn out and needs replaced... they are cheap and it's worth changing for smooth shifting

Thank you for the reply!! I know it needs to be replaced, but after many other replacements I'm just not up the task of pulling off the outdrive to replace. Call it repair-out-syndrome. I will also need to replace the bellows ect. if I do this. If I can get the cable to work for a short period that will be just fine. I know this is only a temporary fix. Going to attempt with mystery oil if I can get the plastic fitting off when I get off work.
 

smokeonthewater

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Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

there are 4 pieces there that come apart easily... the plastic end, a metal ferrule and two square headed screws.
 

RSVRMAN

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Mar 31, 2013
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Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

there are 4 pieces there that come apart easily... the plastic end, a metal ferrule and two square headed screws.

Thanks. I have it sitting at home apart right now. Just havent removed the square screws. I didn't want to break them without asking. If it doesn't work I know what I have to do and maybe that will motivate me. After replacing the steering assembly, new steering wheel, alternator, cd player, running new wire for new speakers, bilge pump and wiring, impeller, skeg guard, chair mounts and drilling out the spider cracks and gelcoating. I'm spent and just want to be on the water lol. I will say when its all said and done I will pretty much have a new boat.
 

Bondo

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Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

Thanks. I have it sitting at home apart right now. Just havent removed the square screws. I didn't want to break them without asking. If it doesn't work I know what I have to do and maybe that will motivate me. After replacing the steering assembly, new steering wheel, alternator, cd player, running new wire for new speakers, bilge pump and wiring, impeller, skeg guard, chair mounts and drilling out the spider cracks and gelcoating. I'm spent and just want to be on the water lol. I will say when its all said and done I will pretty much have a new boat.

Ayuh,... I can appreciate that you've done quite abit of work,...
But,...
Not replacin' the lower shift cable, 'n bellows is Beggin' for a Huge repair bill, that's really Unnecessary...
The hi-lighted items are what you should have Not done,...
The lower cable is a Go boatin', or NOT go boatin' item...

Do it Now...
 

RSVRMAN

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
Messages
83
Re: Lower Shift Cable, Can you remove the plastic head and lubricate?

Ayuh,... I can appreciate that you've done quite abit of work,...
But,...
Not replacin' the lower shift cable, 'n bellows is Beggin' for a Huge repair bill, that's really Unnecessary...
The hi-lighted items are what you should have Not done,...
The lower cable is a Go boatin', or NOT go boatin' item...

Do it Now...

Thanks for the advice as I do appreciate it! I actually was able to get the cable working as good as new. I’m well aware this is a temporary repair and not a permanent fix. The bellows are in great shape with no cracks. I will be replacing them and this cable this fall. If the cable does start to stick again I will replace it and the bellows earlier. I have saved many motorcycle cables with this method, although they are not exposed to the extreme conditions a boat is.
What I did was attach a clear pressure flex line to the shift cable. I get a valve stem and cut off the large rubber end and used my polishing wheel on my grinder and got rid of all the rubber on it. I remove the core of the valve stem as well. I slide the valve stem into the pressure hose and use hose clamps on both the shift cable and the valve stem. I then put about 4 inches of Mystery Oil in the line. I set my air compressor regulator to 45 PSI and no higher. I attach my tire chuck to the line as I’m able to clamp it and leave it on with constant pressure, which makes it a lot easier. After about 15 minutes I got my first drip at the back of the outdrive. I then ran the same amount of lithium grease through the line. After I was done I was able to move the cable with two fingers and could hear it engaging properly. Did a muff test just to be sure and it engages perfectly.
As this is a forum I wanted to share my success with doing it this way. I’m completely aware this is a temporary fix and will eventually need to be replaced. This took all of 30 minutes of my time and $0.00 as I had the supplies on hand. It may be helpful to those that are on the eve of a big weekend and don’t have a mechanic or parts on hand.

To answer your statement I didn’t have to do the CD Player/speakers, but all other repairs were necessary. The chairs were mounted with dry wall screws, which I replaced with SS carriage bolts. This was very unsafe I felt so I replaced them. The steering wheel had drywall screws in it as well because it had come apart in two places. No idea why I was finding dry wall screws in this boat. The heads of the screws were hitting my hands so new steering wheel. On the steering shaft the plastic bushings were nearly gone and I replaced them. The fluid was leaking out of the steering head unit so I replaced basically everything steering related. I did the gel coat because of the spider cracks were close to the keel and on part of the boat where it has a sharp angle. They had already grown from 6”-12” so I used a dremel to remove them and re-gelcoat. I was afraid if I had waited that they would grow to an area where I was not comfortable repairing. The boat also had a skeg guard previously on it. As I’m new to boating I learned quickly that you can’t trust the depth finder or buoys of a lake. I hit some rocks/dirt pretty hard. It removed my skeg guard and revealed that I only had ? my skeg. I probably added to that as well. Rather than wait a month for the skeg to get repaired and cost more I decided on a SS guard for replacement as we get about 8 days of summer in MN.

Thanks again for the help as I was able to take this piece apart successfully and get my cable to move like butter.
 
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