Merc 350 Bravo 3 Stuck in Forward Gear

A

Aeropug

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Aug 29, 2012
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'06ish Merc 350 Mag MPI; Bravo 3
SN 0W668***

Thought I heard what could possibly be a pulley bearing going while under way today. Came to a stop. Reved the engine up (gently) to about 3500 in neutral with the engine hatch open trying to listen for the sound. All of a sudden the boat popped into drive and scared the $ out of me. I thought I had been hit by a boat from the back. I quickly brought it back to idle.

From this point on I have not been able to get it out for forward. It "clicks" into neutral so the safety switch is depressed so I am able to start it. But in neutral it's now idle forward and I am not physically able to pull the shift lever back any further so reverse it out of the question as well.

I disconnected the shift linkage while out on the water and determined that the cable from the shift lever to the linkage is working fine but the cable to the drive doesn't want to budge. I put it back together and it operates fine in forward (Got up on plane heading back to docks). Had to slow down further out than normal, aim well and then kill the ignition and drift in.

Any thoughts? I'm fairly mechanically inclined (Do a lot of work on cars and the boat) but have never pulled an outdrive off. Is this my first step? or does anyone else have any suggestions.

Thanks in advance
 
alldodge

alldodge

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Howdy
What happened is your shifter needed some grease so when in throttle only mode, the shift cable moved as you where giving it more throttle. The clutch in the drive slid into gear and now the clutch has wedged it self on the shift shaft.

Can try this to see if it will release. Drain some lube and remove the rear top cover. The cover will give you access to the clutch. It should be at the bottom. Try to gently pry it up (be careful the gears are steel but housing is aluminum).

If it doesn't move, then need to remove the drive, but before that happens you will need to disconnect the shift fork
 
A

Aeropug

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Aug 29, 2012
Messages
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alldodge You were correct in your diagnosis....cone clutch and drive gear basically wedged/fused. Actually have an insurance rider that covers the outdrive and they are replacing all parts that need to be which is great.

I don't want this to happen again so I'm going to be very leery of doing much for RPMs in neutral in the future.

I'm sorry for being so ignorant but do you have suggestions for which parts in the shifter control up at the helm I should be greasing?

TIA
 
alldodge

alldodge

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Don't know which shifter you have but need to get into where the cables connect. There are levers and a gear which are rubbing. Inside this area is where it would be greased.

If you get into it, remove the shift cable at the shift plate so you can see how much it moves in throttle only

The throttle only mode works the same in FWD or REV. So if it engages to easy FWD it will probably work fine in REV. In any case, when going above 1500 it can happen with controls.
 
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