OMC cobra shift cable questions

[caravellelegend]

Hello, This will be my first post on a boating forum so ill try to be as specifcic as i can, Ive done hours of searching and havent gotten answers to my questions. And id love to be able to get information from a few OMC pro's that can maybe save me alot of work an money... I had to remove my cobra drive from my boat to replace the leaking bellows, that all went well but i used a old cheesy clymer manual that didn't state how precice the transome cable and bellcrack had to be setup before re installing the drive.
However, i set the cable legnth and then set the bell crank at 90* "as per the clymer manual" then reinstalled the drive. then finished installing the new control box shift cable, but the problem im having is it shifts from nuetral to foward really smoothly but when i go to reverse it dosent throw the cable enough to shift down into reverse from the control box/ throttle.
But if i shift it on top the motor with the control box cable unhooked, i can shift smooth as butter from N to foward and reverse no problem, but i just cant get reverse to work from the control box!! its really driving me nuts, i purcahsed a new transom cable and the two special bellcrank/cable adjustment set plates but it seems so close that i shouldnt have to remove the drive again to reset that adjustment with the "special tools" and a new transom cable but i got the parts/ tools, because thats the next step...any help would be greatly appriciated and could possibly same me from pulling a drive i just installed 3 days ago! I guess the main question is, If i can shift it into ever gear no problem from back at the transom cable with the control cable unhooked, does that mean the transom cable and bell crank are ok and i dont need to remove the drive again to realighn those?

 

[Reinell-BRXL-191]

Re: OMC cobra shift cable questions

Ok, let me see if I follow you... you took off the drive, and then set the cable and bellcrank without the tools, and then put it back together, and it doesn't work.. so then you bought a new cable and the tools, and now you are wanting to not remove the sterndrive to change the cable? I am assuming it shifted fine before you took it apart?

If it was shifting fine before you took it apart, and you changed nothing else, then most likely the bellcrank was not set at 90 degrees, or the cable length was set improperly... there is no way to fix this without removing the drive. once it is set, it is set.. It could also be the shifter cable is not adjusted properly either.. I am of course assuming you put this all back together with the old cable... Check the trunnion barrel on the shift cable, see if it is 6 1/2 inches from the center of the shift pin hole.. if not, then the adjustment is in the exterior cables

It seems to me, the next logical step is to remove the drive, install the new cable properly with the tools... and follow the instructions to set both the shift cable, and the shifter cable..

You can find the exact instructions for setting the shifter and shift cables here...

www.midnight-wolf.com/OMC_Install_Instructions.html

 

[caravellelegend]

Re: OMC cobra shift cable questions

Hello, thanks for the fast response, You pretty much got what i was trying to say except im just wondering if it isnt the adjustment on top the motor or whether its the bellcrank adjustment , i dont know understand why i can go into forward and reverse from pulling/pushing on the transom cable from up top at the engine, yet i cant get the control cable to do so...my next step was to pull newly installed drive and instal new transom cable using special tools...., but I never had problems with this until i removed the drive so i guess it would make sense that the bell crack wasnt set to absolute precise 90*

 

[Reinell-BRXL-191]

Re: OMC cobra shift cable questions

well, if it was working fine before, and you didn't change any of the shifter cable settings, then it has to be what you did touch, I would honestly start from the beginning, use the new cable/tools ( never hurts to change them) and be sure that the cable is set properly, if all parts are good, and you follow the instructions, it will fix your problem. Pulling the drive isn't that hard.. and the few hours it takes to do this work, is well worth, making sure the drive doesn't end up with toasted gears...

 

[caravellelegend]

Re: OMC cobra shift cable questions

I forgot to add, If it turns out i cant get it adjusted with the cable junction on the engine then can i remove just the drive and not the tilt housing with my new bellows hooked up? id rather not mess with those nice new sealed up bellows:facepalm: but its cake to just remove the drive...

 

[Reinell-BRXL-191]

Re: OMC cobra shift cable questions

Going to be next to impossible to remove the shift cable, without removing the pivot housing

You could try tilting it up all the way and then cutting the cable so you can get it unscrewed..

 

[caravellelegend]

Re: OMC cobra shift cable questions

ill have to see if thats worth the try, thanks for the idea... Ill probably end up just pulling the drive and pivot housing and do it the official way..thanks also for the link to those manuals. it makes sense and is better then the books i have but is a slightly different setup, mine is a 93 cobra 5.0 so it has all the adjustment/ cables/ esa switch on top of the motor and its a slightly different setup.
I've never adjusted one of these so is it possible i have all the trunions adjusted wrong and or the slot that the shift cable adjusts in..i dont understand that, What does the + and _ adjustments mean..?, my book says its a reverse adjustment of some sort but its very very vague, just so frustrating! haha i so wish i cold just watch somebody do it who has done it a thousand times! id pick it up right away ha..