Hard shifting OUT of gear

[A1957]

I have a 1988 King Cobra 350 engine/outdrive. I recently replaced my non functioning ESA module and it now works. At the same time I also removed the drive and replaced the gimbal bearing. Everything went smoothly.
It now drops into forward or reverse with no issues but is VERY difficult to get OUT of gear. Especially forward.
I also noticed that the tach is swinging about 2-300 RPM while at a 3000 RPM cruise. I cannot hear or feel this difference but it didn’t happen before.
Any tips?
Model number - 574BP8GDF

 

[Lou C]

When you say it works....does triggering the ESA by hand with the engine running in neutral drop the idle rpm from approx. 600 to 450 or so? That is how it is supposed to work. What is your idle rpm in gear? Should be approx. 550-600. Is your transom shift cable moving freely? What about the bellcrank in the pivot housing? When these drives won't go into Neutral, the causes are usually:
idle rpm too high and ESA can't lower it enough
ESA not functional
Transom shift cable getting stiff
Pivot housing bell crank getting bound up by deposits in the pivot housing, caused by an inadequately sealed gasket between the drive the pivot housing.

if you find that the shift cable is getting stiff you will have to replace it and get the special tools to properly adjust it.

 

[A1957]

I’m not sure what the idle is because the tach is giving me issues too but the rpm definitely drops when I move the trigger by hand. I’ll get a handheld tach and check the idle rpm.
The cable felt free when I just had the drive off. By bell crank are you talking about the up-down shift rod in the upper housing?

 

[Lou C]

The bell crank is in the pivot housing (part the drive bolts onto) on the right side where the shift cable guide pokes out. The pocket it sits in can get crudded up with water deposits if that gasket leaks. The up and down shift rod actually goes into the front of the lower gear housing but sticks up and the rod end of the bellcrank fits in the middle of it. So if the bellcrank gets sticky it won't move the shift rod smoothly.

 

[jerryjerry05]

The micro switches they working?
Run the motor and manually push the shift arm up and down.
It should kill the motor temporarily when it's activated.
The shift rods bird mouth rides on the bellcrank.
As the shifters moved the bellcrank goes up or down.
There's a 1/4-20 screw holding the shift rod on the bellcrank.
IF?? the cables stiff or the corrosion is bad the bellcrank can bend and cause the hard shifting.

How old' the shift cable?
They had problems with the OEM cable.

If you remove the bellcrank/shiftarm, when replacing, fill the cavity with marine grease.

 

[A1957]

The micro switches are working. The RPM definitely drops when I activate them by hand. It also shifts INTO gear quite nicely.
the shift cable itself is only a few years old but I didn’t put it on. A shop did. When I had the drive off recently the cable moved freely. I also dint notice any crud near the bellcrank. I cleaned everything up pretty good with a a small wire brush and a vacuum.
i won’t be able to get back up to the boat for a couple weeks now. I sure hope I don’t have to pull the drive again.

 

[Lou C]

First thing is to hook up an accurate tach to see what it drops the idle rpm to when you trigger the esa interrupt lever. Normal idle not more than 600 and when you trigger the lever it should drop to about 450.