Throttle and shifter adjustments

First post here. First boat, first rebuild. Ok, heres the story. We bought a 18' pontoon boat a couple years ago. late this winter I disassembled everything down to the toons. Replaced everything from the toons up. Got it all back together and almost done. Just a couple little things left to do and its time to get wet! One of the new things I got for the boat was a new throttle/shifter control box. I got the Teleflex CH7542P. I am using the old cables cause they still look to be in good shape. I am just kinda guessing my way through the adjustments on both cables. does anybody have any tips or tricks, advise? It is a 1991 evinrude 40 HP.

Also,not sure what happened, but I was working on the throttle adjustment. I reved the motor up, and it jumped and splashed water everywhere. Im guessing it jumped into gear, but not sure. Why would it do that? I did take the lower unit off and replace the water pump. But was very careful not to move the shift rod. Any thoughts?

(Centering Shift Cable)
(J. Reeves)

When all is as it should be, the proper method to adjust the shift cable is to disconnect the cable from the engine. Move the shift linkage on the engine to find the center of the play in neutral, and when found, leave it centered.

Now, grab the end of the shift cable sleeve, push and pull it to find the center of the play there, and center that play.

Adjust the trunion on the threaded portion of the shift cable so that the centered play of the cable lines up with the centered play of the engine's shift linkage. Install and lock the shift cable with the retaining clamp in that position. That's it.

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Just ordered new cables. I think I got it working, but was still very stiff. Cables should be here in two days. Will get them put on and try again.

Ok, I got the new cables in and on. Still real stiff to shift out of N. Throttle seems smooth and both cables are run right next to each other. So I don't think its a cable problem. I unhooked the shift cable from the linkage at the motor and now control shifts fine. So I went back to the motor and tried shifting it by hand with the cable unhooked. I have no way of knowing exactly how much pressure it should take, or how much pressure Im actually using but, it seems like its to much. I also noticed that there is a little ball that comes out of the motor that sits in a valley between to bumps. it seems to me that, that would be N? Even when I move it by hand, if I move the linkage back,so the ball would be over the bump and in the front valley, its not really on the flat spot. Its still kinda on the slope. Does this sound like the shift rod is out of adjustment to you guys? I mean that's what it seems like to me but, I don't know much. I don't mind taking it apart and adjusting it, just don't want to do all of that if it isn't the problem. And, thanks again.