Shaking out drive?

[Cory1993]

I’m in need of some help guys and gals. I’m very new to the boat world and been getting a 1993 Seaswirl 190 back ready for the water. I have taken it out a few times and had some issues with it not going back to neutral from forward. Now while on land with the muffs on it’s shaking Side to side . Any ideas why???

 

[alldodge]

Howdy
Maybe prop shaft is bent, or if you have power steering the adjustment is off.

Remove the prop and place a square against casing and prop shaft. Rotate shaft to see if there is any wobble

 

[Cory1993]

Thank you for the help. I will try that tomorrow morning.

 

[bruceb58]

Often, if its hard to shift from forward to neutral, Your ESA isn't working. It makes the engine stumbler to allow the dog clutches to disengage.

If its because it is out of adjustment, ore than likely it is going to need a new lower shift cable. You will need the special OMC tools or aftermarket tools to adjust it.

 

[Lou C]

The side to side shaking I've never experienced in 18 years of ownership of a Cobra but I have heard of it on Volvo Penta SX drives, might want to see if their owners found a solution, not common but have heard of it.

The shift adjustment issues I am much more familiar with...this is at least a 3 step process and you have to do it the right way, or it will not shift the way you want. As Bruce said, you need the 3 tools (actually one you can improvise for that is measuring the shift rod height) but the other 2 are essential (bell crank holder tool and shift cable adjustment tool)

to start you remove the drive and measure the shift rod height, this must be right or else all your other adjustments will be off.
Then...the transom shift cable is disconnected both at the pivot housing and up on the engine shift bracket. The drag is measured both ways with a fish scale, no more than 2.5 lbs. Any more and you have to replace the cable. Use an OEM one if you need to do this...
Next the transom shift cable is adjusted using those 2 special tools. The idea is to get equal throw in FWD & REV on either side of neutral.
Lastly the remote cable must also be adjusted with the same principal in mind, equal throw on both sides of Neutral.
And yes the ESA system must work. It will not trigger when running on the water hose because there is no load on the prop then. In the water with a load on the prop, shifting will cause the cable sheath to flex and that movement will trigger the load lever on the shift bracket to trigger the ESA interrupt switch. This will lower the engine idle from approx. 600 to approx. 450 rpm and that allows the shift dogs to release the fwd or reverse gear. In order for it to work the micro switches must work as well as the module. Module has to have a good ground.

this is just a brief summary it is not really hard just a bit confusing the first time you do it. you do need an OMC manual and for more up dated instructions do a search on Midnight Wolf OMC parts they have updated instructions that are not in some of the shop manuals.

once it is set up right it will shift great. one finger on the control and mine goes into neutral. And it wasn't like that when I got it for sure!

 

[PITBoat]

I need to have another look at the ESA system on mine. I tripped it once manually while running on the hose and it seemed to work, but mine is still hard to get outta Fwd, even with new lower shift cable and doing the adjustments last season, EXCEPT, I missed the shift rod height part somehow. I at least intended to see how it lined up with the adjusted shift lever when putting the drive back on, but there were distractions at that point and I didn't.

I don't remember exactly where switches on the ESA system are; if there's two maybe I missed checking one? Easy enough to find out. I'll just have a look in a day or two.

 

[PITBoat]

My memory is refreshed a little. Interrupter and overstroke switches. I checked continuity per the book and each is functional. The roller for the interrupter switch is right in the notch on the load lever where it should be.

Next time the drive is off, I'll have to be sure I check the shift rod height like I should have in the first place.

I'd love some one finger shifting; it's tough having to muscle it outta gear while maneuvering for the dock/trailer at the same time. You don't want to do it any more than you have to.