Lower outdrive changed now difficult to shift

"I have a 1993 Four Winns with

"I have a 1993 Four Winns with a 5.8 liter engine and an omc outdrive. I,ve recently had to replace the lower outdrive. Since then, I've been having shifting problems when I try to reverse. Tonite I experienced an additional problem. When I was entering the marina I found that I wasn't able to shift into neutral before going into reverse. The engine had also reved up to about 1800. To avoid a disaster I shut the engine down. When I started it up again, the engine idled at about 1400 rpms. Can any one give me an idea what caused this, and how can I rectify the problem?"

"If you did not adjust any shi

"If you did not adjust any shift cables on the engine or anywhere, sounds like shift rod is out of adjustment. Before you replaced the lower unit, did you measure the shift rod from the gearcase casting to the top of the shift rod, NOT from the top of the top of the shift rod cover. It should be 7 13/64 inches. I used a carpenters square. It is critical to be the correct height when you put the unit back on for the bellcrank to slip perfectly into the notch on the shift rod. I just did the same thing to mine about 2 weeks ago and went by this website. I suggest you read over it and check the shift cable also. www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/
It worked for me, mine was all out of whack but shifts like butter now! Good luck."

"Follow up! Sorry, my reply mi

"Follow up! Sorry, my reply might help others but just seen on Stuarts Cobra web site that these adjustments are just for 1986 - 1991."

"There were different variatio

"There were different variations of the 5.8 in 1993, some had regular Cobra drives with the dog clutch lower on them which would make Steve's info above apply or there were some with the King Cobra drive which has the cone clutch in the drive and is totally different. Do you know which version you have? The King's usually say King Cobra on them but a quick way to tell is on the regular Cobra the top cover on the drive is flat where as on the King is actually has a hump on it."

"I believe mine is a standard

"I believe mine is a standard cobra. When the lower unit was changed the outfit that did the work said they had a used king in stock, but it wouldn't work. What I can't understand it why the rpm increase happened. Just moments before, it was idiling at about 650 to 700 rpm and running perfect. Do I have to do a throttle adjustment as well as a shifter adjustment?"

The shifter/throttle control h

The shifter/throttle control has 2 cables coming out of it. One goes to the shift asm on the engine and the other goes to the carb. I would disconnect one or the other to see if there is something affecting the other. I've never heard of a bad shift cable causing the RPM's to jump up like that. I'm wondering if ther is something wrong in the shifter?

"Thanks for the advice. I disc

"Thanks for the advice. I disconnected the throttle cable and found that it was sticking a bit. I'm thinking that may be the reason for the inconsistant rpm's. I also shot some wd-40 into shifter. All seems ok and I'm hoping it will stay that way. I haven't taken the boat out for a test run as yet, but she seems to come out out of gear while tied to the dock. When the rpm's were up, she wouldn't. Heres hoping the problem is solved. I'll be taking her out some time this week and let you know if the problem is still there."