Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

[ericcarr2000]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

Im positive I installed the drive correctly. Once I got it installed, I shifted through the gears and they engaged. All I was trying to do was adjust them to get rid of the clicking noise before they engaged. When you would put the throttle on forward or reverse, you could hear some clicking WHILE you would continue on moving the throttle to that gear. Eventually it would engage. I tried the adjustments, that was when it wouldnt engage the reverse gear so I tried to go back to the adjustment where they would engage and it is doing the same thing, clicking while trying to engage the reverse gear. Even when the remote commander is in the full reverse gear it is clicking...
What Im going to do is take the computer out to the boat and watch the video that is posted here.....And give that a try. It has to be something I just overlooked....Im hoping at least....:blue:

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

Now that you mention it, I remember reading in the procedure that you need to make sure to move that attaching bolt so it is at the BOTTOM of that slot. Am I wrong for doing this...

this is what I would do. start all over with adjustment procedure. adjust lower shift cable exactly as procedure shows. pay attention particularly to the part about the slot on the lower cable adjustment. start with pin at bottom of slot. finish adjustment procedure for both lower shift cable and remote cable. if you still have problems with reverse, try moving that pin in the slot up a little bit and recheck shifting. this slot is designed to help engage reverse. if you still have reverse problems then start looking for the things Don suggested above.

watch this video first, then go by the manual instructions. Mercruiser Alpha Shift cable adjustment - YouTube good luck!

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

Now that you mention it, I remember reading in the procedure that you need to make sure to move that attaching bolt so it is at the BOTTOM of that slot. Am I wrong for doing this...

Are you talking about step #5? If so you were correct for moving the attaching bolt to the bottom of the slot and then re-tightening.

 

[84EdH]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

yes, as stated, start with the pin on the bottom. if when checking your shifting after finishing all adjustments, you still have problems with reverse, move the pin up a bit, re-tighten it, then check reverse shift again. if reverse shift is not right this time, move the pin a bit higher, re-tighten, then check your shift. if you reach the top of the slot and it still wont shift into reverse correctly, something is wrong with the cable itself, or the outdrive, etc. as Don stated above.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

Ok so this "slot" is pretty much only for the reverse gear adjustment then.....It would have made it much easier to understand if that was stated in the directions. I guess sometimes I just need it explained to me a couple of times...lol....

yes, as stated, start with the pin on the bottom. if when checking your shifting after finishing all adjustments, you still have problems with reverse, move the pin up a bit, re-tighten it, then check reverse shift again. if reverse shift is not right this time, move the pin a bit higher, re-tighten, then check your shift. if you reach the top of the slot and it still wont shift into reverse correctly, something is wrong with the cable itself, or the outdrive, etc. as Don stated above.

 

[84EdH]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

look at the video I posted above again: from 2:46 to 3:58 Chris is talking about this slot and reverse gear.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

Update!!!!!I just adjusted that pin to take it off of the bottom of the slot, I moved it half way up the slot and it still wouldnt engage fully, so I moved it up all the way to the top and now it will fully engage into reverse.......My next question is this, once the outdrive is engaged, is that pretty much it, that the cable only engages the drive cause it strill takes about half the throttle to fully engage it...
Thanks again for all the help guys....

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

I'm not quite sure what you're asking... does the drive engage fully in both forward and reverse now? If so good. Do you have a single remote shift lever? In other words one lever that both shifts the boat into gear and controls the throttle too or do you have one lever for shifting and a separate one for the throttle? I'm just trying to understand your setup. If you have 2 different levers than the shift lever is supposed to go almost all the way forward or backwards to shift the engine in or out of gear. If you have a single lever that controls both the shift and the throttle than a 1/4 to 1/2 way would be about right to shift in and out of gear. Either way so long as your engine idles at around 600-700 rpm with the shift in neutral and the throttle all the back and you can get to wide open throttle in forward and plenty of RPM's in reverse to control docking and backing up then yes, you are all set.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

They fully engage on both forward and reverse gears now, yes. I have a single remote commander so I wasnt sure if it was normal to have to go about half way through to get it to fully engage...Guess the next step is to give her a sea trial.....

I'm not quite sure what you're asking... does the drive engage fully in both forward and reverse now? If so good. Do you have a single remote shift lever? In other words one lever that both shifts the boat into gear and controls the throttle too or do you have one lever for shifting and a separate one for the throttle? I'm just trying to understand your setup. If you have 2 different levers than the shift lever is supposed to go almost all the way forward or backwards to shift the engine in or out of gear. If you have a single lever that controls both the shift and the throttle than a 1/4 to 1/2 way would be about right to shift in and out of gear. Either way so long as your engine idles at around 600-700 rpm with the shift in neutral and the throttle all the back and you can get to wide open throttle in forward and plenty of RPM's in reverse to control docking and backing up then yes, you are all set.

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

They fully engage on both forward and reverse gears now, yes. I have a single remote commander so I wasnt sure if it was normal to have to go about half way through to get it to fully engage...Guess the next step is to give her a sea trial.....

Glad to hear you finally got it working both ways. Let us know how the sea trial goes.

 

[ericcarr2000]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

Now, as far as having to go half way through to get the drive to engage. Is there something that can be done to get the drive to just click into gear right away instead of having to move keep on moving the commander until it clicks....It just seems like the further you have to move the commander to engage the drive, the less RPM's you will obtain @ WOT....
Im just trying to maximize the top end speed.....

 

[tazrig]

Re: Alpha one Shifting cable adjustment

That would depend on how the throttle is cammed. The throttle cable can only be pushed as far as the throttle linkage will let it go. The further the end of the throttle cable is from the pivit point of the throttle handle the further it will push the cable. In other words some throttles go from idle at the 1/2 way position to full throttle and others from a 1/3 or even less.

Go here: Boatinfo - The library, containing manuals, brochures and other technical documents from the last hundred years!

Find your manual for your 3.7 Mercruiser (I didn't see what year you have in your profile) and first find out what your max rpm's should be. If you're not hitting them in your sea trial and your throttle (on the motor) isn't advancing as far as it should then adjust the linkage on the remote throttle. But if your not hitting max rpm's it could just as easily be your prop, loss of compression or a multitude of other problems. Sea trial it first and see what happens.