1978 260 stuck in reverse!

What's up guys. Got another one for ya!

1978 260 (5.7) mercruiser with a 260 outdrive

long story short, I clipped a sandbar by about 4 inches last weekend. I know I know tell me about it. No visible damage except some light pitting on the ends of the prop. Boat was still running well after this incident. Next day I push off and find the boat is stuck in reverse.

Some questions,

1. Is it safe to assume this is the shift cable? Or could it be damage from the impact of the sand bar? Tests?

2. The boat is stuck in reverse so how the heck do I get the outdrive off?! I was told to split it and drop the bottom half then the top will pull out. When I tried this the lower half didn't seem to want to budge.

anything helps!
thank you

You should have removed 5 nuts, and 1 allen bolt under the trim tab

Bt Doctur said:

You should have removed 5 nuts, and 1 allen bolt under the trim tab

Click to expand...

Well now how in the hell did I miss those last two? Lol thank you, apparently I am just as blind as I am forgetful.

Now that I got the outdrive off I can see that the shift lever at the end of the cable is not moving forwards or backwards reguardless of what I do at the throttle.

Time to research shift cables/ install ? Or might I be missin something here?

Anyone?

OK, start at the end inside the boat. remove the cotter pin and nut to see if you can move the cable manually.
Or pull the slide to see if it comes out with the core

if your usa, message me a cell number

Bt Doctur said:

if your usa, message me a cell number

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hey I really appreciate that offer.. yourself and many others on here have helped me immensely. After taking some time to actually understand how this system works I looked at the cables at the engine I noticed that the stud that keeps the forward shift cable in place had backed out. Cable had nothing to back up against. Never over look the simple stuff.

Fixed

nothing like keeping it to a simple fix, blue loc-tite is your friend