shift cable broke

tonyvail

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May 9, 2006
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21
I have a 1986 or 1987 4.3L OMC drive. The shifting in my boat was stiff so last year I replaced the shift control device and two cables. The shifting remained stiff. I then realized that the resistance was coming from either the transmission or the remaining cable that goes from a shift mechanism by the engine to the gear box. That cable looked close to impossible to replace so I gave up on improving things. Now I started the boat up last week, and the end of the lower cable broke off that connects to the shift box located beside the engine. I'm thinking that I could jerry-rig the cable end with a new fitting much more easily than replacing the cable, however replacing the cable might resolve the resistance. I'm also worried that I would be out in the lake and the cable would break at the other end and leave me stranded. There isn't hardly any room down under the engine to even see where that cable ends, let alone get to it. Does anyone know what is involved in replacing that cable? Does anyone have an idea if the cable is even the problem, or if the gearbox might have the resistance in it? Does the engine have to be pulled or lower unit removed to get to the cable end? Thanks for the help!
 

tonyvail

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May 9, 2006
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21
Re: shift cable broke

One other thing. Yes there is full fresh oil in the lower unit.
 

bruceb58

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Mar 5, 2006
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Re: shift cable broke

You need to pull the drive to replace the cable that goes down to the drive. You should be pulling that drive every year anyway! It is not hard at all to do if you have basic mechanic skills. Helps to have two people remove and install the drive since it is pretty heavy.<br /><br />On the engine side of that cable it goes through a rubber hose to get down to the drive. There is also a rubber boot that covers the end of the hose where tha cable goes through to prevent water from getting into the boat.<br /><br />Adjusting the cable is the tricky part. It is important to get the bell crank where the cable attatches at the drive adjusted to the proper 90 degree angle before you mount the drive and adjust the other end at the engine.<br /><br />Here is a good site that describes the adjustment procedure.<br /><br /> http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/index.html <br /><br />I went through 4 of these cables for the time I owned my Cobra. The first replacement was for the recall. The next two failed at the sterndrive side. I did the replacement on the last 2. The one i didn't do was at Lake Powell after I drove there 14 hours and my boat wouldn't shift. Don't let that happen to you.
 

tonyvail

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May 9, 2006
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Re: shift cable broke

Thanks for the information. I'm not sure if I want to take this on, or take these notes to a marine shop and have them do it. I have some skills and have worked on cars for years, but frankly just used this boat other than changing the fluids, winterizing, replacing the water pumps, and greasing the grease points. I had it serviced at a marine shop once or twice when it was younger. It seems that they did pull the drive to grease or adjust something. They bent my trailer, and I didn't feel like going back! Why would I pull the drive each year? Are there parts in there to grease or adjust?<br />Thanks.
 

bruceb58

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Mar 5, 2006
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30,548
Re: shift cable broke

You should be greasing the u-joints and greasing/inspecting the gimbal bearing.<br /><br />In addition, you are also checking if any water has entered the bellows which would also cause both of these items to fail.
 

tonyvail

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May 9, 2006
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Re: shift cable broke

I checked with a marine shop today and they want over $800 to replace that lower cable. They claim the cable is $200 and the hours are six to install. This seems way high to me. I paid about $30 a cable for the upper cables and I would be surprised if this job took more than 2 or 3 hours for a good marine mechanic. Does anyone have experience with the cost of the part and time it should take?<br />Thanks.
 

Boatin Bob

Lieutenant Commander
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Sep 24, 2001
Messages
1,858
Re: shift cable broke

On the Doug Russell site that cable is around $170 and that's mail order so $200 at the marina is not out of line, as for the 6 hours, they have to remove the drive, remove the cable, install new cable, adjust it (tricky part), check/adjust drive to engine alignment and then reinstall the drive and test so could be close???? As your drive is 86 or 87 what color is the plastic sheathing on the cable? The old original ones that had a lot of trouble were black and the redesigned ones were red, if you got this long out of a black one you were very lucky!
 

bruceb58

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Re: shift cable broke

10 years ago I paid $350. <br /><br />Last one I replaced took me 3 hours.
 

tonyvail

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Joined
May 9, 2006
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Re: shift cable broke

Its black. The boat has always shifted with some effort, but worked. Is that the symptom of why these were notoriously bad? That is they sticked, or was it that they broke? The plastic end of the cable near the top of the engine broke off. I could easily repair the end and keep on running, but based on comments from this forum, I'm thinking I should take the time to replace it. I'm thinking that it could brake off on the other end when I'm out in the middle of a lake.
 

lilmandavis

Chief Petty Officer
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Mar 9, 2006
Messages
618
Re: shift cable broke

ive got omc black cable horror stories.. dont want to hear mine. ive got a big block pushing a cobra on a 30 footer... yeah pull that baby off and git r done. once you do one, thier easy. just have to turn the shift fork side ways to get the lower off. make sure the nuetral shift shaft height is right. take your time and learn about your boat in the process. put yer finger up in that gimbal hole and spin it make sure that it isnt crusty or loose. might as well replace it now. take the $800 and buy parts. do the labor yourself. make sure you have a good manual. pvc pipe works as a good bearing driver! you can rent the alighnment tool at the place you get the parts. its not that hard. i think the cobras are the easiest outdrives to work on. wonder if you have the 5 degree gear set in that thing hmmm. guess youll find out :eek:
 

bruceb58

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Mar 5, 2006
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Re: shift cable broke

He's not going to find out if he has the 5 degree dog teeth set by just pulling the drive off.<br /><br />OMC changed the angle of the dog teeth from 2 to 5 degrees to fix what they thought was the problem with dog clutch failures. It was later that they decided that the angle change was not necessary because it was the cables causing the problems.<br /><br />When you first changed your shifter and replaced the front two cables(I am assuming one throttle and one shift), you should probably have disconnected the shift cable to the drive to isolate the two halves to determine which was the cause of your problem.<br /><br />Another cause of hard shifting in the Cobras is caused by the bellcrank where the cable attatches at the drive. There is a pocket where the bell crank is that can fill up with water. If this water happens to be salt water, a lot of deposits can build up which binds the bellcrank. OMC came out with a retrofit kit for the bell crank that allows grease to be forced into the bellcrank bushing along with filling that cavity with grease and keeping the water out. Might be worth searching for that kit if any dealers still have them available.
 

tonyvail

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May 9, 2006
Messages
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Re: shift cable broke

Thanks for all of the help. Looks like I need to buy a detailed manual the right cable and set aside a Saturday.
 

Boatin Bob

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Sep 24, 2001
Messages
1,858
Re: shift cable broke

Just my personal opinion but stay away from those aftermarket manuals like Clymers and Seloc, try to find a real OMC factory manual (eBay) it's far superior and a lot of those pictures and instructions from the Stuarts webpage (link from bruceb58) came out of those manuals.
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
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Mar 5, 2006
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Re: shift cable broke

Unfortunately, the best instructions came from an OMC amendment to the service manual that I had. I used to have it but I gave it to the new owner when I sold the boat.
 

marunr

Petty Officer 1st Class
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Jul 11, 2004
Messages
225
Re: shift cable broke

It's incredible to me that you've had that black cable all of these years, had a hard shifting outdrive, and yet haven't had to replace your gears! If you print out the info from the hastings site, the adjustments aren't that hard, as the others have said. Read it carefully and when you pull the drive it will make sense. I only have the Seloc manual, but that and the print outs worked ok for me. If you just try to fix that cable end, you'll be looking for a gear set before long and $800 will sound cheap.
 

tonyvail

Cadet
Joined
May 9, 2006
Messages
21
Re: shift cable broke

Well, I hope the gears are OK. The shifting engagement has gotten a little rough in reverse.
 

seahorse5

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Jan 24, 2002
Messages
4,698
Re: shift cable broke

There were two types of black shift cables back then. Only the one with the "ribbed" finish was the problamatic cable and the cable with the smooth covering was the improved version. It was later changed to a red covering to make identification easier.
 

grouchyglass

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Jul 7, 2005
Messages
18
Re: shift cable broke

Hey Guys,<br /> I belive that m shift cable broke today. I shiften in to reverse and then it would not go back in to foward. I could shift in to reverse and push the lever foward and throttle it up to get back to the ramp in reverse. Everything looks okay up by the engine. Maybe I am mistaken but it looks like a broken cable to the drive. Anybody got any other ideas?
 

bruceb58

Supreme Mariner
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Mar 5, 2006
Messages
30,548
Re: shift cable broke

That's what it sounds like to me. Same problem mine had when it started to break.<br /><br />By the way, you are better off starting your own thread. You will get more responses.
 
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