Shifting cable

"1988 Bayliner with 3.0 OMC co

"1988 Bayliner with 3.0 OMC cobra i/o. I have had the outdrive off before to change the gasket for the outdrive, and had a very hard time reinstalling the outdrive... now with it off and the cable replaced, I am having a hard time again...any tips to iinstall the drive... i have only 1-2 inches to go and it is in. HELP...HELP"

"Did you check the engine alig

"Did you check the engine alignment?

The bellows and the Ujoint have a very tight relationship on those drives. I used to have a trick where I would push with my knee, and use a smooth screwdriver to work the ujoint back and forth. I have a jug of Caterpillar 1U9191 hydraulic oil additive - very slippery... it really helps.
But if the coupler isn't aligned it will fight you even harder and that's agood thing because the coupler will fail if it's not aligned."

ahhh i ran into this same prob

ahhh i ran into this same problem just yesterday my friend and ill tell you how i fixed it
take some sort of rod and insert it into the back end where the outdrive is suppose to go.. give it a couple of hits with a hammer ... i found that the housing for the drift shaft had pulled back on me and thus when i tried to install i was very close but not all the way. then once you have done this put the outdrive back on and take off the cover with three bolts as if you where going to get to the impeller case. take a rubber maltet and gently tap the outdrive all the way on ... may not be the scientific approach but it worked for me