Shifting problem

"I bought a boat that has shif

"I bought a boat that has shifting problems. It is a 1984 GM V8 with old style I/O - all original. I can get it to shift either forward and neutral or reverse and neutral. Not all three. I have tried everything to adjust it and have come up with the cable is stretched. Can I just cut off an inch or so to shorten it back to where it should be?
Thanks, Ron"

"remove the lower shift cable

"remove the lower shift cable from the bracket, see if you can do it by hand. If not replace the cable. sometimes you can adjust the amount of throw the lever has, if where the cable attaches it's slotted, try that..

can you cut it ? No, because then you wont be able to put into forward. pull is reverse, push is forward. should have an equal clicking or ratcheting when turning the propeller ( i like a hard rachet )"

"there are other posts on here

"there are other posts on here about adjusting the shift cable, try searching."

"I spent a week going through

"I spent a week going through the posts and basically it comes to replace the cable. That is why I ask if I could just shorten it as it has stretched too much.
I should have said that I could make it go forward neutral and reverse only by doing so with my hand and not the shifter. I can not get reverse in any fashion by using the shifter no mater what combination of adjustments I do.
I hope that clears things.
Thanks,Ron"

"That's a typical issue, s

"That's a typical issue, so .. check this...
see the red section, thats where the lower cable attaches, the green section is a slotted adjustment ( old bracket design ) that the amount of throw can be adjusted. moving away from the pivot allows for more throw. the blue line is pointing to the nut which will fall out if you loosen to much, the purple line is where you put a pair of vise grips or wrecnch(forget if you can) to loosen and slide it away from the pivot where #20 is pointing.

If yours doesn't have the slot, there's nothing stopping you from drilling another hole, except you will weaken it, and if you drill to far, the cable will jam ( not far enough and as you see doesn't engage)... now.. if your skilled you could elongate the hole ( know a friend with a machine shop ? ) I've succesfully done this on my own boat and a couple others.

Good luck.. Brian


shift

"[b]"I spent a week going

""I spent a week going through the posts and basically it comes to replace the cable. That is why I ask if I could just shorten it as it has stretched too much."

Ayuh,... You need to Replace the cable,... Cutting it won't help....
The outer casing is worn inside, allowing too much slop..."

"May i also add to go with a m

"May i also add to go with a merc oem cable it has a extra coating inside well worth the few dollars more then after market, for original equipment in this case.

You do know you need the lower cable?"

"Mine does have the slotted ba

"Mine does have the slotted bar. It looks like someone has already tried that option by making more cuts in it.
I was wondering why it wouldn't work. I didn't realized that the outer casing got longer too. I thought it was just the inner one that was the problem.

Now all this is mute as I took the top cap off of the out drive and found cream instead of black oil. The O ring had a nick in it and I could see where saltwater has been getting in. This is not good.

Is there a kit that has everything I need to do a cable kit with boots etc... I figure I should go ahead and replace all the boots and prop seal all at one time. Is there anything that should be replaced at this time? Is there some thing else I should look at for water intrusion? Also I should mention that this is a jack shaft set up and there is no water pump in the out drive unit. The engine is under the CC making this boat a real nice riding boat.
Thanks, Ron"