Reverse good on muffs, not in water

[RLMarz]

I did a bit of searching but didn't find anything quite spot on. 1973 Johnson 115 on a 17 Sunbird 174 SPL.

On the muffs she shifts into forward fine, back to neutral fine, and when shifted to reverse prop spins accordingly. With the engine off, put her into forward or reverse and she is locked into gear when attempted to be spun by hand.

On the water she does fine in forward, but when shifted to reverse she simply revs. Tough to tell if the wash in the back is purely exhaust or the result of prop movement. Either way, she does not reverse the boat by any stretch of the imagination.

As I said she is locked into reverse as confirmed by a manual prop spin and that is what has me puzzled. Is it possible something is out of adjustment and thus not engaging reverse fully (under load) or might there be further trouble in the lower unit?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[racerone]

Re: Reverse good on muffs, not in water

Remove shift cable at the motor.---Put boat in the water.---- Start the motor.-----Shift to reverse by hand at the motor.---Testing on the hose means very little as even when it is in gear there is no load on the prop.---Motor still behaves as if it were in nuetral.

 

[boobie]

Re: Reverse good on muffs, not in water

Edit.........

 

[RLMarz]

Re: Reverse good on muffs, not in water

Hopefully can get to the water within the next few weeks and will try what you said racerone. Might as well do that before dropping the lower unit to inspect.

 

[racerone]

Re: Reverse good on muffs, not in water

The 1973 motor is a mechanical , hydraulic assisted shift unit.----It does NOT default to forward when not running !!!!!!----It can be shifted when the motor is not running too !

 

[boobie]

Re: Reverse good on muffs, not in water

I sit corrected. I just read the post again and realized my mistake !!!!!