87 30L cobra shift cable problems

"I've got a problem shifti

"I've got a problem shifting into reverse. Starting last year it was kind of difficult to get to reverse (thought it was the shifting column at the drivers seat). Now it won't go into reverse at all. Sorry if I'm calling the specific parts/point by the wrong name, but neither of my manuals (Clymer's and Seloc really covers this very well). I removed the shifting cable at the engine, and the components from the drivers seat to the engine compartment work just fine.

Next I tried to manually engage it from the engine to the outdrive. Forward works fine, and I got it into reverse one time. After that, no matter how hard I push on the casing guide, it won't go into reverse.

I can see where this cable goes through the transom, but don't see how it goes into the upper unit.

Do you think it's the cable? Since it works so easily in the forward direction it seems unlikely that the cable is frayed.

It appears that in order to get to the outdrive end of the cable you need to pull the upper unit away from the transom. Is this correct? If so, this seems like a lot of work to change a cable.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks a ton.

Bob"

"I think your going to have to

"I think your going to have to remove the outdrive to see if it's a cable problem or within the drive itself. Once the drive is off you can check in and around the bellcrank area to see if it's clear in there and then try moving the cable. You can also try shifting gears in the outdrive itself by raising and lowering the shift rod.

Have a look through this website, it has a ton of valuable info on the Cobra shift problems including cable replacement and adjustments.http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/"

"Bob Hill,
Thanks for the adv

"Bob Hill,
Thanks for the advice. We pulled the drive off and found that there was a bunch of white corrosion in the pivot housing chamber that houses the shift lever and the end of the shift cable. I couldn't tell if the water was coming in via a bad gasket or the shift lever plug. However, the problem getting into reverse was that there was so much corrosion built up under the shift lever, it couldn't go forward enough to engage reverse. Once I cleaned it out it went forward much further. Also, the shift rod in the drive works great, so it looks like I don't have to go through the pain of installation/adjusting the cable.

I do have a couple of follow-on questions. Any ideas about the corrosion? Anything I should do, other than do a good sealing job?

Secondly, the SELOC manual says to coat the mounting studs with "Drive Sealing compound". Then 2 steps later says to coat the mounting stud threads with "Gasket Sealing compound". Are these different? The marine dealer where I got the parts didn't know about the Drive Sealing compound. Can I use the gasket compound only?

Also, the only Moly grease I could find for the splines was a Ford automotive "moly-fortified multi-purpose" grease. I'm thinking this will be fine, but thought I'd ask. I could also use triple-guard grease.

When I drainied the gearoil from the drainplug on the lower unit there was some water that came out prior to the oil. It's probably been 15 years since it's been serviced, so I think I'll refill it, run it a couple of times, then recheck. Sound reasonable?

Finally, with motorcycles I normally coat both sides of a gasket with adhesive. When we pulled the drive off of the pivot housing it appears that there was adhesive on only one side. What is you opinion on how to do this?

Thanks again, the Hastings website was a big help.

Bob"

"For the corrosion in the bell

"For the corrosion in the bellcrank area, I suspect that this was a gradual build up over time. If you remove the drive annually or at least every 2 years for regular maintenance, (lube the u-joints, inspect the bellows, inspect gimbal bearing,etc) then you can keep that are clean.

You should be fine with the gasket sealing compound. There is actual spline grease but you'll be fine with either of those, don't go nuts with it and try not to get much on the very end of the shaft because when that shaft goes back into the coupler a build up of grease can get causght in there and then your actually trying to compress that grease as put the drive back on.

For the water in the drive, you could try that but that's usually an indicator that you have a bad seal or even an o ring gone on one of the oil screws (drain, fill or dipstick).

A lot of the gaskets that you get from OMC actually came with a gasket adhesive on one side. It's really only there to keep the gasket in place while you tighten."