Is it an Alpha, Gen 2 Shift Assist Assembly issue?

[Crispin]

Just found this older topic from a search. First day (one of the happiest days right?) with our “new”, $5000 1999 Crownline 202BR. It’s in really good shape for a 27-year-old boat. 450 hours. The boat is almost unusable because the shifter is so stiff. Have done this so far:
Disconnected the shift assist- way easier to shift but a bit difficult to find neutral.
Disconnected the shifter completely at the engine and shifted by hand, engine running, using the linkage next to the carburetor. “Clunked” into forward and reverse nicely but was hard to get back to neutral from forward or reverse.
Testing the shifter alone with cables disconnected and engine off- if I provided any resistance at all (similar to the shift assist), it was nearly impossible for my wife to overcome my resistance using the shift lever.
Judging by the ghost on the upholstery, the original control was replaced with an oval shaped one that looks like a Quicksilver. No idea when. When shifting by hand with the cable disconnected, engine running, it was pretty hard to find neutral and actually land in the neutral zone. It wanted to go to the opposite gear rather than landing in neutral and it took a fair amount of force to get out of forward or reverse. Clunked in gear easily but came out hard. I’m a mechanic but in 40 years of messing with boats, I have very little experience with bad shifters and lower units so I don’t know if what I’m feeling is good or bad. Maybe just needs another shifter. Any comments or suggestions and thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Scott06]

Just found this older topic from a search. First day (one of the happiest days right?) with our “new”, $5000 1999 Crownline 202BR. It’s in really good shape for a 27-year-old boat. 450 hours. The boat is almost unusable because the shifter is so stiff. Have done this so far:
Disconnected the shift assist- way easier to shift but a bit difficult to find neutral.
Disconnected the shifter completely at the engine and shifted by hand, engine running, using the linkage next to the carburetor. “Clunked” into forward and reverse nicely but was hard to get back to neutral from forward or reverse.
Testing the shifter alone with cables disconnected and engine off- if I provided any resistance at all (similar to the shift assist), it was nearly impossible for my wife to overcome my resistance using the shift lever.
Judging by the ghost on the upholstery, the original control was replaced with an oval shaped one that looks like a Quicksilver. No idea when. When shifting by hand with the cable disconnected, engine running, it was pretty hard to find neutral and actually land in the neutral zone. It wanted to go to the opposite gear rather than landing in neutral and it took a fair amount of force to get out of forward or reverse. Clunked in gear easily but came out hard. I’m a mechanic but in 40 years of messing with boats, I have very little experience with bad shifters and lower units so I don’t know if what I’m feeling is good or bad. Maybe just needs another shifter. Any comments or suggestions and thanks in advance for any help.

you should be able to shift and alph by manipulating the lower cable with two fingers, should move that easily.

If it doesnt pull the drive and look for debris or sticking swivel shaft or dragging shift cable. Manual #14 will help with this

 

[nola mike]

What Scott said, but sounds more like a faulty shift interrupt switch if you aren't stalling. A lot of times people will disconnect the SIS because the lower cable is bad. Do you have a roller style switch or the plunger type? When you try to get out of gear the plate should move, the switch should activate and the engine should stumble. If you press the switch and hold it the engine should stall

 

[Crispin]

Thank you for posting my reply as a new topic and thanks also to others for the replies.
I can hear the SIS interrupt but it may be late. Does that happen? Also, during this sea trial, we had another event.. While moving at medium speed on a plane, my boss pulled the control back to slow and as the boat was coming off plane, she hit reverse (because the shifting is so stiff; takes two hands for her). Shortly after that, we heard a deep knock that improved as we idled to the dock but hasn’t gone away.
The guy we bought the boat from is pulling the lower unit today. I plan to visit and get my hands in there for my own survey of the gimble bearing and also get my hands on the U-joints.
As for the stiff shifting, I’ll check the shift cable and swivel for smooth action or visible damage.
One more thing regarding the Shift Assist. I reassembled it before handing over the boat. It took a lot of preload to get the pin in. With the drive in neutral, should that pin slide in with no preload from the Shift Assist spring? Put another way, should the Shift Assist spring be adjusted to line up in neutral with no load on the spring? Thanks again.

 

[Scott06]

Thank you for posting my reply as a new topic and thanks also to others for the replies.
I can hear the SIS interrupt but it may be late. Does that happen? Also, during this sea trial, we had another event.. While moving at medium speed on a plane, my boss pulled the control back to slow and as the boat was coming off plane, she hit reverse (because the shifting is so stiff; takes two hands for her). Shortly after that, we heard a deep knock that improved as we idled to the dock but hasn’t gone away.
The guy we bought the boat from is pulling the lower unit today. I plan to visit and get my hands in there for my own survey of the gimble bearing and also get my hands on the U-joints.
As for the stiff shifting, I’ll check the shift cable and swivel for smooth action or visible damage.
One more thing regarding the Shift Assist. I reassembled it before handing over the boat. It took a lot of preload to get the pin in. With the drive in neutral, should that pin slide in with no preload from the Shift Assist spring? Put another way, should the Shift Assist spring be adjusted to line up in neutral with no load on the spring? Thanks again.

A lot of the recomendations here are to take off the shift assist- I think @Bt Doctur has seen issues with it . My try to disco it and test.

I still have mine on my 04 gen 2 never gave me an issue and shift beatifully so left it alone.