2.3L Ford OMC Won't go into reverse

[Nick Hall]

I have a 1987 VIP with the 2.3L Ford OMC Cobra that won't go into reverse, it was fine about two weeks ago but the throttle arm is hard to move back and forth and it won't go into neutral when it's in the water or reverse. If I try to force it it just throttles up and still in forward???? When the boat is out of the water it goes into neutral and reverse no problem. Any ideas????

Thanks

 

[roscoelab]

Your lower shift cable has a problem, possibly the head of the slide lock has broken off and out of the water there is enough grease and cable bind to pull it out of gear, usually though they break and your just stuck in gear in or out of the water.best guess, others better then i will answer also.

 

[Docksidemarineservices]

It may be time to pull the drive and check the bell crank and the shift rod operation and give it a good shot of grease. The shift rod can bind in the lower gear case. If bound up, new shift shaft seals and some grease will loosen it up.

 

[chiefalen]

see the shift converter, the shift cable from the throttle and the lower shift cable come together. Remove the lower cable from the converter and then move the throttle back and forth if it moves easy then you know the lower cable went.

Heres the link read it and re-read it and print it out you will need it when you redo the lower cable.

SHIFT SYSTEM ADJUSTMENTS for "KW-RG" (1986-1991) CLUTCH DOG MODELS