Shift cable anchor broke

[mrg23e]

Hi everyone, newb here with a broken shift cable anchor at the helm control. I have a 1990 18.5 ft Reinell open bow with 4.3 omc cobra. Went out on a local lake today and after backing away from the dock on our launch, i could'nt shift out of reverse. The wife was freaking out a bit because we were doing circles in reverse just out from the dock. I quickly figured out i could manually shift it on the shift plate on the motor. So we ran around for about an hour before heading home. Tore into it tonight and found a broken shift cable anchor at the helm control. The broken piece holds the outer jacket of the shift cable in place while you move the throttle and is made mostly from plastic. My question is, where can i find a replacement and is there an aftermarket piece made from metal that would last longer? Only had the boat for 3weeks and am having fun working out the bugs. My nuetral safety switch also is acting up, and i'm thinking of by passing it. Is this switch normally open/ or closed? Thanks everyone and sorry for being long winded.

 

[Boats-A-lots]

Re: Shift cable anchor broke

Iam trying to get a visual on this part, is there a way to post a pic? Iam always amazed what I can find on Ebay when I'm looking for parts.

 

[mrg23e]

Re: Shift cable anchor broke

Stopped by the local marina today, and found out the piece im looking for is called the barrell and it's something that comes pre-installed on the cable. So it looks like a new shift cable is in my future. Now to try and find some ID numbers on my cable so i can locate a cable. Should i also replace throttle cable at this point too? They both seem to move freely, but with that barrell being broken the sheath slides back and forth in the control. What about the control itself, i feel like taking it apart and degreasing and cleaning and then putting it back together but man is there alot of pieces to that thing. Where is the best place to order cables from? Thanks for the help, Erik

 

[Boats-A-lots]

Re: Shift cable anchor broke

I know a lot of people would say yes, replace the other one, but I have always been a fan of if it isn't broke, don't fix it. If it looks like it may break soon, yeah I would replace it, but if it still works fine I wouldn't.

I'm in the middle of replacing my shift rod, and lower cable. When I got my lower off I found the bearing housing was broke, so I'm replacing that. I'm very thankful Im doing it myself and didn't take it to a shop. A lot of them just want to throw parts at things that are not broken. (Like there are 10 other things I could replace since I have the drive off and separated, but its not that hard to take it off and apart again if something else breaks.