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Transom shift cable routing

S

settimo velo

Contributing Member
The shift cable comes out of the left hand side of the transom and I am wondering whether to route it up between the bellhousing and transom on the left hand side of the engine, or to loop it under the bellhousing and bring it up on the right hand side. Does it matter? Is there a best practice?
 
There is a specific routing of the short shift cabel. Failure to follow the routing will eventually cause damage.
I am repling by phone so i cant show/give spefics right now. Will follow up within 24 hours.
 
The diagram shows the cable routing BUT in the daigram it shows very tight bends, do not try to reproduce the tight bends.

Try to allow the cable to naturally bend how it will while routing it the way in the picture. The short shift cable does NOT like sharp bends..
 
kghost said:
The diagram shows the cable routing BUT in the daigram it shows very tight bends, do not try to reproduce the tight bends.

Try to allow the cable to naturally bend how it will while routing it the way in the picture. The short shift cable does NOT like sharp bends..
Click to expand...

That was my instinct to route it like the diagram, avoiding any sharp bends. I'd thought about fastening it against the transom with a p clip, to hold it back in place behind the power steering ram (and steering tie bar on the other engine) but I see that is not recommended and I do not suppose the shift cables will move that much to get in a tangle wrth anything.
 
What happens is when you raise or lower the outdrive the cable moves. It has to be free to do so or it will bind and or kink. NO straps or cable ties. It has been routed like that in boats for well over 40 years so if you do it the way it is shown it will work just fine.
 
Hi kghost,

I know this thread is old but I am new to ALL boating stuff and find myself laying awake at night working about this cable route, following the removal and self rebuild of my Bayliner Ciera 2155 Sunbridge 5.0L GM engine coupled to an OMC outdrive. I really do hope you are still active and can help me.

The issue for me is the importance of the single pipe clamp on the transom for the outer sheath that the shift cable runs through as it seems so fragile a connection when you think it is below the water line and easily dislodged. I have reinstalled the engine and didn't take note of the run of this over pipe on dismantle.

My shift cable works nice and freely and shifts freely but there is no movement through the over pipe so the outdrive will not push back enough to refit to the Pivot Housing to the Grimble Ring without bending the shift cable.

What I think I have done - whilst I have the correct route around the power steering and onto the shift assist mechanism on the top of the engine, I think I haven't followed the exact route from the transom. Mine is "over the exhaust pipe, then it looks pinched down by the flywheel housing and then bends starboard". I think what you are advising is " from the transom over the exhaust and immediately bend to starboard through a small gap between the engine mount and flywheel housing, then around under the exhaust and up behind the power steering unit and on to the shift mech"?!

If you confirm this is how it should be I will have to re-hoist the engine and check the Jubilee pipe clamp is still holding the outer pipe in place and then route it correctly.

I do not want this thing sitting at the bottom of the murky river Stour.

Thanks
 
I have no idea what you're talking about. Is it a Cobra drive? On a Cobra, the shift cable is inside a hose which is connected to the gimbal housing. The hose routes up the right hand side of the engine and has a bellows on the end that keeps the seawater out. The routing is pretty much already decided for you on this one. The original hose was banded to the Gimbal housing fitting with a compression collar like on hydraulic hose. There's also an o-ring on the fitting which you should replace any time the hose is removed from the transom. Sometime in its history the original hose must have failed and the jubilee clip installed instead of making a proper fit or replacing the hose assembly. Our hosts carry that part here:
http://www.marineengine.com/newparts/part_details.php?pnum=OMC0984199

For information on how to adjust the shift cable, Stuart Hastings has you covered:
http://www.hastings.org/~stuart/cobra/

I have had these drives over the years. They aren't as awful as people say. I got so I could do the adjustments with only a cheap plastic protractor and triangle like kids use for elementary school math.
 
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Thank you so much o2batsea this is very clearly where I need to be for no nonsense advice and knowledge.

Thank you for the links I will definitely follow them and I will be swapping out this part asap. One concern is the corrosion factor between dissimilar metals which I have experienced in the removal of the exhaust bolts where I had to drill 2 of them out and helicoil. This part looks like it is only hand tightened and therefore if corroded in there are no spanner flats to apply enough force to remove; I would be grateful for your thoughts on this. Thanks in advance.
 
o2batsea, forget my question about spanner flats I have seen a better picture and it does have them. Should have put my glasses on!
 
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