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Mercruiser alpha I Gen 2 not going into reverse

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pbasile

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Made all appropriate capable adjustments to spec but still not fully engaging into reverse. Randomly will lock into reverse but easy to disengage by moving prop CCW and then CE. Pulled the lower unit and was able to engage reverse consistently by moving shift manually but did not feel solid. One thing noticed is the shift lever goes to 12 o’clock but does not turn complete 45 degrees (only about 42 degrees) for reverse.

Changed water pump put back on boat same problem even under power. Able to go to forward but randomly catches when “jiggle” to reverse. A lot of gear grind and noise if does not engage. Another thing to bring up I have always had a little trouble getting to neutral under power but after “jiggling” throttle usually drops into neutral.

Any input welcomed
 
The steel shift arm must NOT move past 12"00 . Is there play in the shift cable/shift slide?
Should be almost none. With the drive removed and lower shift cable removed ,can you slide the shift slide all the way into the housing?
 
Thanks for everyones input. Next step is to remove drive from bell housing and inspect the Shift Slide to see if blocked in any way. Will report back my findings
 
pbasile said:
Made all appropriate capable adjustments to spec but still not fully engaging into reverse. Randomly will lock into reverse but easy to disengage by moving prop CCW and then CE. Pulled the lower unit and was able to engage reverse consistently by moving shift manually but did not feel solid. One thing noticed is the shift lever goes to 12 o’clock but does not turn complete 45 degrees (only about 42 degrees) for reverse.

Changed water pump put back on boat same problem even under power. Able to go to forward but randomly catches when “jiggle” to reverse. A lot of gear grind and noise if does not engage. Another thing to bring up I have always had a little trouble getting to neutral under power but after “jiggling” throttle usually drops into neutral.

Any input welcomed
Click to expand...
 
Removed the outdrive completely and inspected the shift lever and slide and did not find any hard material blocking it, Some grease but nothing solid. Shifted from forward to reverse and slide appeared to have full motion of travel to the point that in reverse the top of the shift arm made contact with bell housing (not sure if this is normal).

When in forward no excessive movement same when moved to reverse. The cable attached to slide had a little play 1/16 in both ways. Rubber piece that makes contact with the slide also appeared to be in good shape

Inspected the bushings on shift arm in outdrive side and appeared to be fine and seated. Did notice that the lower bushing was not snug to the diameter of the shaft but upper bushing was.

Check the shift arm lower unit and rotated 12-9.5 oclock and was able to lock into forward and reverse while off the bell housing.

Put outdrive back on and same problem not able to get into reverse.
 
What options do I have to remove the play in the glide? I will recheck if I am within spec of 9/16in play in cable (shift cable on engine side) while holding prop in forward. Also pull outdrive off again and inspect much closer and see if I can remove the play in the glide by tightening set screw. Will also check if setscrew in shift arm is properly tightened.
 
When you adjusted you sterndrive shift cable to the 6" measurement while in forward gear and attached to the shift arm the stud was at the bottom of the slot, right.With the remote control cable attached shift into reverse,if it does not lock into gear move the stud towards the top of the slot until it does.
 
stork55 said:
When you adjusted you sterndrive shift cable to the 6" measurement while in forward gear and attached to the shift arm the stud was at the bottom of the slot, right.With the remote control cable attached shift into reverse,if it does not lock into gear move the stud towards the top of the slot until it does.
Click to expand...
stork55 said:
When you adjusted you sterndrive shift cable to the 6" measurement while in forward gear and attached to the shift arm the stud was at the bottom of the slot, right.With the remote control cable attached shift into reverse,if it does not lock into gear move the stud towards the top of the slot until it does.
Click to expand...
Bt Doctur said:
The steel shift arm must NOT move past 12"00 . Is there play in the shift cable/shift slide?
Should be almost none. With the drive removed and lower shift cable removed ,can you slide the shift slide all the way into the housing?
Click to expand...
 
The shift arm does not move past 12pm. Measured play in cable on shift side and was about 3/8in. I did remove the lower shift cable and manually pulled the cable and was able to go forward and prop locked in ccw but did not lock when manually pulled into reverse. When i had the drive removed it appeared that the glide was bottoming out in reverse. Appears the shift shaft in the upper housing just does not rotate enough to get all the way to reverse.
 
stork55 said:
When you adjusted you sterndrive shift cable to the 6" measurement while in forward gear and attached to the shift arm the stud was at the bottom of the slot, right.With the remote control cable attached shift into reverse,if it does not lock into gear move the stud towards the top of the slot until it does.
Click to expand...
Tried this and did not get me any closer to locking into reverse.
 
UPDATE:

I have been on the phone with pbasile. He has shared many requested photos of all the shift linkage.
Drive, bell housing and all shift components are is new condition. Most likely has never been apart.

After all the troubleshooting we are at a point that the shift slide (Cable end with set screw) is not moving all the way inward which is not allowing full reverse engagement.

He will remove engine shift bracket side cable end and pull inner core out of cable and inspect backside of slide and try to find what is causing the limited movement. Note: the photos show the cavity and all components are as clean as new. No residue build up that may typically be found in a older drive.

We feel there is something that found its way into the back side of the slide whether it be dirt or something else not allowing the last ~1/16" of movement for full reverse.
 
Removed shift cable and inspected the Glide and did not find anything inside the glide. Remove the set screw from the bell house crank arm removed and inspected it and bushings. No damage and was not bent. Put shift cable and glide back together and assured that the glide was bottoming out against the brass fitting in bell housing. After very close inspection just appears that the shift shaft from bell housing with ushape end just does not rotate enough to engage reverse on lower unit, Need about 3-5 degrees rotation. Pics below shows lower unit shift when engaged in forward and reverse. Bell house shift arm in reverse bottomed out against the brass fitting.
 

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