No forward Gear - Bravo 3

[Mercnoob]

drive serial #ok223391

Hi I have a bravo 3 with a issue with forward gear. I was at the dock and put it into forward and .... nothing happened reverse works just fine.

I pulled it out of the water, checked the cable and it was connected and moved just fine. went home put it on the muffs and manually shifted the cable. still just reverse.

Next I pulled the drive and started to look for problems there. The cable coming into the drive moves freely.

Is there anything else that may cause this problem before I spend the quoted 1600 on a clutch assay.

The symptoms prior to this were that it would not come out of drive easily after a long run and going into forward gear there seemed to be a little hesitation like a 3 count before it would actually engage or you had to bump the throttle a little to get it to engage - ie just before the engine would start to advance.

Any suggestions are very welcome!

Thanks

mike

 

[Mercnoob]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

any suggestions?

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

Does it come OUT of reverse?

I would still suspect worn shift cable before the clutch. Always start with the simpliest/least expensive thing.

 

[Mischief Managed]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

All you need is a 3/8" twelve point socket to take the drive shaft housing covers off to have a look inside. Drain the oil first though. Might be something as simple as a worn out shift linkage assembly.

 

[Mercnoob]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

It shifts in and out of reverse just fine - smooth as silk.

the shift cables seem to move just fine. if they are moving easily could they still be bad?

how do i identify a worn out shift linkage assembly? the manual talked about bushings being worn out too - how do i identify this?

thanks for the help!

 

[Mischief Managed]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

how do i identify a worn out shift linkage assembly? the manual talked about bushings being worn out too - how do i identify this?

thanks for the help!

Pull it out and have a look at it. It has a pivot on it that can wear out. It is not lubed with oil like everything else in the drive. Removal is easy, there's just two allen bolts and a shaft. You can insert one of the allen bolts that you've removed into the top of the shaft to get a grip on it to pull it up.

That said:

If memory serves, forward gear requires a push on the cable, reverse requires a pull. If the cable housing is broken, it can simply open up when you try to push on the cable for forward. With the derive off, put the shifter in forward and push on the cable at the drive end. If it goes in easily, the cable housing is likely bad.

 

[Mercnoob]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

the pivot seems to work fine. it seems a little sloppy though, would this be the bushings? not at the pivot.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

...

If memory serves, forward gear requires a push on the cable, reverse requires a pull. If the cable housing is broken, it can simply open up when you try to push on the cable for forward. With the derive off, put the shifter in forward and push on the cable at the drive end. If it goes in easily, the cable housing is likely bad.

Your memory is good, indeed. And that's good advice.

 

[Mercnoob]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

Ok after a 2 week respite...

I moved the shift arm (inside the drive. Obviously the drive is still off the boat) manually and was able to get it to engage in forward and reverse.

The problem is that when the cover is on the back of the drive I cannot get it to engage again. i pull the cover off and i can get it to engage again - there seems to be plenty of space for travel, but i push it in all the way until it does not go any further and it still does not engage when the cover is on.

would this be a bad pivot then? Thanks!!

I checked the cable housing like you suggested it is solid.

 

[Mercnoob]

Re: No forward Gear - Bravo 3

Any suggestions?