1993 Johnson 60hp control box problem

First off i would like to say hello. New here. And amazed at the amount of knowledge available here. Now my problem. I have a 93 johnson outboard that has been sitting for over a year due to boat being remodeled. When i disconnected the shift and throttle cables in the remote control they worked great. Now when i reinstalled them, the control box will not shift at all. when i pull up on the trigger on the control it will not release. I can release it by pressing on the ball bearing detent in the control and it will shift, but as soon as you move it back to neutral it will lock up again. After a year of working on this remodel in my spare time, this is the only problem standing in my way to completion. Thanks for any help!

What style control box do you have? Side mount, concealed side mount or what? Don't know what ball bearing detent you're talking about.

I have a side mount. When you take the screws out of the remote control housing where you can lean it outward and get to the throttle and shift linkages, you can see a small metal ball that is apparently spring loaded, that engages when you put the handle in the neutral positon and locks it. It appears to my untrained eyes that when you pull on the trigger on the handle that this ball is supposed to release so the control can be shifted. BY pressing inward on this metal ball with a screwdriver, it releases the handle so you can shift it and operate the throttle. It takes very little movement of this ball to release the control. Sorry i can't explain it better, but my knowledge of anything outboard related is limited. Thanks for trying to help.

If this ball and spring is inside the control box the area where it rides may have some burrs on it or needs replacing.

Thanks Boobie. I disassembled the control and could find no damage to the ball,spring or any related components. Honestly, i could find no reason or purpose for the ball detente to be there other than to act as an extra safety lock? Anyway i removed it completely and control box is working correctly now. Hopefully i will have no more trouble with this. If i do i will have to take it to an expert.

That ball and spring is the neutral marking of the box.
Did you have the cables installed on the engine when putting them into the control box, most likely they are not correctly adjusted at the engine end.

Haffiman, the boat had been sitting up for over a year before we started the renovations. When we stored the boat the controls were working perfectly. I never diconnected them at the engine and reconnected them to the control box exactly as i removed them. Or so i believe.When we finally got the motor running, the control box wouldn't shift. We figured it was seized cables, but when we disconnected the cables at the control, the cables moved freely and engine shifted correctly by manually manipulating the cables, but the shifter at the control box would not realease. We also tried disconnecting the cables at the engine, just connecting the throttle cable, just connecting the shifter cable, and completely disconnecting cables from the control. Nothing we tried would allow the shifter to release. The shifter seems to work with the removal of the ball and spring. Is there a safety hazard using it this way? Or a possibility of damage to the equipment? If so i may have to take it to someone more qualified than i to rectify the situation. Thanks for the help.

If you loose the neutral marking in the box, you may get in trouble with the switch preventing it from starting in gear.

SC_Wildman,
Did you ever find the fix to this?
It sounds like ihave the exact same control box and problem.
had been working great then, last weekend out on the water just got stuck. did as you did used a screw drive to depress the ball and away i when.

Has running the control box with out the ball caused any issues?

Thanks