Shift bellows

[rickasbury]

So I have to replace a shift cable bellows, one I recently replaced along with the shift cable... Merc...so can I work that shift cable thru the boot or do I have to pull the cable and do it from the other end?

 

[achris]

The shift cable needs to go through the bellows from the engine end. You can't push the bell housing end through the bellows.

I've done this quite a few times, disconnect the cable from the shift plate, remove the tube that screws in the end. Secure a pull line to the cable and then start pulling it out of the gimbal housing (along with the old bellows). You can get it to come out without removing it from the bell housing. Once it's out, disconnect the pull line and pull the old bellows off. Use a bit of dishwashing liquid and slip the new bellows on, reconnect the pull line and pull it back in..... Attach the bellows, attach shift plate end and set it all back up. You don't even need to remove the drive and you shouldn't need to change the adjustment.

Chris.........

I'm moving this to the Merc section...

 

[rickasbury]

Hey achris , thanks for the info...thought you'd be underwater hiding from all this mess...so your saying pull the cable out of the covering rather than pull the whole cable out? It will pull thru the covering(know that not the proper term,)? How do you disconect from the drive with at least not pulling it back a little? I like your thinking though...

 

[achris]

Kick the steering all the way over to port, tie off the steering wheel (or tie the drive across). That gives you (just) enough room to start the cable forming a loop as you pull it from the gimbal housing. You don't need to remove the drive at all...

Wish I was underwater somewhere. Right now, I'm at home (and with no income. Wife's a gym instructor, so no income from her either :facepalm, and likely stuck here until we open up for international travel again, and that's unlikely until at least next year. And from what I'm seeing, air travel is going to be a nightmare from now on. If you thought the changes after 2001 were 'inconvenient', these are going to make them look insignificant. I suspect we're going to be needing to get to airports around 6 hours before flights, it's going to be 'uncomfortable'...

Chris.....

 

[Rick Stephens]

Not sure if you understood what Chris was saying. You disconnect the shift cable at the engine end, remove the parts at that end and drag it out the back. Slide over a new boot and reinstall back up to the engine.

 

[rickasbury]

Yes, I think I did finally grasp that...so your saving working the cable back through like your installing a new one...so what do you use to connect so you can pull it back thru or will it just push back through?

 

[achris]

Yes, I think I did finally grasp that...so your saving working the cable back through like your installing a new one...so what do you use to connect so you can pull it back thru or will it just push back through?

..... Secure a pull line to the cable and then start pulling it out of the gimbal housing (along with the old bellows)..... reconnect the pull line and pull it back in..... .

I use a length of green fishing cord.

 

[rickasbury]

How do you tie anything to that cable and I have a big old knot and pull it through? I'm guessing that metal is pretty hard

 

[Bt Doctur]

I remove the drive , remove the core, insert a solid SS core from a control cable and use it as the guide, pull the shift outer casing and leave the core in its place.
To install put the core thru the outer sheath vise-grip the end and pull cable back thru boat

 

[achris]

How do you tie anything to that cable and I have a big old knot and pull it through? I'm guessing that metal is pretty hard

'Leccy tape. As long as you aren't reefing on it too hard, it'll hold.

 

[rickasbury]

Electric tape?

 

[achris]

Electric tape?

Yep, this stuff...

 

[rickasbury]

I don't get that you can put enough tape on the two pieces to hold it together and pull it through the outer casing....

 

[Bt Doctur]

You can

 

[Bt Doctur]

And if it loses its grip you will have a heck of a time getting to that area in back of the engine. If you miss and get it in the flywheel your even worse off
Drop the drive, remove the inner core ,get a free inner control cable core from any marina and use that

 

[achris]

I don't get that you can put enough tape on the two pieces to hold it together and pull it through the outer casing....

Tape the pull cord TO the outer casing and pull the outer casing, with someone inside the boat guiding the cord as it leaves, out from the gimbal housing from the outside of the boat.

Chris........

 

[rickasbury]

OK guys, thanks so much for the help but you pretty much just blew the top of my head off...so I did a recent repair that Dodge, bt doctur and chris really helped me through that involved pulling my motor, transom assy, redoing the transom asy including new bearing and bellows and putting all this back together. I am not a mechanic and had never attempted anything like this on a boat but the point being, I had so much going on I don't remember much about this shift cable that I did replace. As soon as I get the new bellows I'll bring the boat home but Lord, I'm kind of lost. So if you will bear with me....so I get that the end of the cable that goes into the outdrive has a part on it that will not go through the boot and it has to be threaded in from the front end of the cable.....I thought through this whole process of explanation, I was pulling the core out of the casing as all the undesirable parts are on the cable not the casing.I don't recall how then engine end of the cable attaches but assumed it will pull out through the casing from outside the transom. If I understand what your saying, I'm pulling the casing out and leaving the core? And when I pull the casing out, attach something to it so I can pull it back through? I have my cable looped around the exhaust per the Merc manual with the heat shield and everything on it but I guess there are no tight bends there or it would not shift properely...and if I'm pulling the casing through, it's not going to go over what ever is attached to the core at that end of the cable at the out drive...I'm not getting this at all I'm afraid!.

 

[rickasbury]

So I'm reading back through all of this ...seems in some posts I'm pulling the casing out and in some others the core...really getting confused. I'm recalling that the cable will come apart from the engine end and the cable would pull through the casing...and that makes sense but don't see how I can attach anything to it to pull it back through. If I use line and wrap a bunch of tape around it, don't see that going through the casing...pulling the casing out would make no sense as it won't go over the little knob at the out drive side...

 

[achris]

To get the inner core out of the 'casing' out you need to remove the drive. If you are replacing JUST the bellows, you don't need to remove the inner from the casing, and hence you do not need to remove the drive.

If all you are doing is replacing the bellows, just remove the excess hardware off the shift plate end of the cable... Referencing the diagram below, loosen #14 and pull #12 off the end of the cable. Loosen the jam nut ('JN') and unscrew the barrel ('B'). Tape a pull cord to the end of the cable (inner or casing, doesn't matter) and with the help of another person, start pulling it out from the gimbal housing. Installation is the reverse.

 

[rickasbury]

Now I'm getting it....I'm not going to disconnect the drive end...I'm going to pull the whole cable through ( you forgot to mention the heat shield material needs to come off, made that mistake the first time and remember that!) put the put on and then pull the whole dam thing back through with the pull core. You all sure were making that complicated!
Thanks guys....