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alpha 1 shift issues

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floatin radio

Regular Contributor
Alpha 1, replaced gimble bearing, all bellows, shift cable and replaced the washer I left out last year when i changed water pump. Heres the issue, outdrive slides right on, in foward gear, once its on it will shift to netural once, then wont shift again. I have taken it on and off probably 10 times, nothing binds, it always stays in foward
roller cam lines up with shift guide. When outdrive is off it shifts smoothly. I am at a loss for what the problem is.
When i replaced the washer on lower shift shaft, i just put a stainless steel one that fit, is it possible that it is to thick? I noticed that when drive is together, that the lower and upper shift shafts are right up against each other, no gap at all. You think this could be the problem? Is there a part number for this washer?
Thanks in advanced
 
You replaced the short shift shaft, What proceedure did you follow for setting it up?


with regards to the shift shaft in the outdrive.

Did you do this,

looking down at the shaft spines, twist the shift shaft all the way clockwise wile spinning the prop c'clockwise until it locks in gear?

This puts the lower into forward, the splines MUST be completely, all the way clockwaise, the bronze shift link must be facing straight ahead, no more clockwise and no c'clockwise 12:00 period.

The washer used above the shift shaft bushing is thin but I do not have one available to measure the thickness. I would estimate ~ 1mm , .040" it is there to keep the bronze shift link from damaging the shift shaft seal.......

too thick of a washer would cause the bronze shift link to push up on the U shaped shift link in the gimbal housing (zero clearance). I dont think it would cause anything but resistance when the U shaped part turned when shifted. The vertical link in the gimabl can not move up very much at all but if it does then the bell crank can be forced out of the shift cable end.
 
I did not put it on that way, i just turned the shaft splines all the way to one side, did not turn prop at the same time. prop locked in clockwise direction, racheted in the other.
Just to make sure we are talking about the same washer, there is a thin one that goes on the bronze shift shaft with a coter pin. I replaced that with a mercruser part. The other one fits over the splines of the shift shaft, i just replaced this with a normal size washer.
Im going to seperate upper and lower and do it the way you suggested, i will look at the thickness of thaat washer also.
 
A nice trick I learned a while back, is once you have the lower end in forward gear with the prop locked counter clockwise and the shift shaft straight forward, take a rubber bungee or similar, hook it on the prop then run it around the lower end and hook it to hold the prop in place. Eliminates the chance of bumping it loose. Works great!
 
floatin radio said:
I did not put it on that way, i just turned the shaft splines all the way to one side, did not turn prop at the same time. prop locked in clockwise direction, racheted in the other.
.
Click to expand...


Here in lies the issue.

Do exactly as I described and it will work.

There is a reason I described it that way to begin with.


When you shift your ourdrive into forward gearm you MUST rotate the prop COUNTERCLOCKWISE to engage the clutch dog to the gear properly.

If you think about it when in use it wuill drive the proppeller clockwise,



Beleive me I understand full well the parts you describe in great detail..........this is not my first post...lol


http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show...&bnbr=110&bdesc=GEAR+HOUSING(DRIVESHAFT)+-+MR
 
I wasn't questioning your knowledge of
The parts, just my description of them so
You would understand what I was trying
To say. Now that we ate on the same page
I will follow your steps and try it again.
Thanks!
 
OK, I seperated the halves, checked washer, its within specs, followed your procedure above, prop stayed in foward gear, put halves back together. It still will not shift once it is on. No binding at all when outdrive is off, checked with throttle and with it disconnected by hand. Roller cam stayes where it is supposed to up until I cant see it anymore, and moves freely. (about an inch till drive is mounted) Once it is on, it is still in fowarwd gear, when i shift thru throttle to neutral, it goes to neutral even when I go back to fowarard will not go in reverse at all. I disconnected shaft cable at motor, cannot shift by hand when outdrive is on, shifts freely when outdrive is off.
Not sure whhat to do next. At least I know my engine alighnmentt is spot on, i lost count on how many times I have taken it on and off
 
floatin radio said:
OK, I seperated the halves, checked washer, its within specs, followed your procedure above, prop stayed in foward gear, put halves back together. It still will not shift once it is on. No binding at all when outdrive is off, checked with throttle and with it disconnected by hand. Roller cam stayes where it is supposed to up until I cant see it anymore, and moves freely. (about an inch till drive is mounted) Once it is on, it is still in fowarwd gear, when i shift thru throttle to neutral, it goes to neutral even when I go back to fowarard will not go in reverse at all. I disconnected shaft cable at motor, cannot shift by hand when outdrive is on, shifts freely when outdrive is off.
Not sure whhat to do next. At least I know my engine alighnmentt is spot on, i lost count on how many times I have taken it on and off
Click to expand...

I'm curious if while you had the lower unit off, did you try and turn the shift shaft of the lower unit (that would be full counter clockwise) to see if it will actually go into reverse? The prop should lock to the clockwise direction. While you have it off, I would put the controls in full reverse position and go back and take a look at the upper shift shaft and see if it's approximately at the 9:30-10 o'clock position where reverse should be. Just remember to put it back into forward after looking, and I say this from my experiences. :))

Just a thought.
 
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Yes, it will shift fine by hand, with eiether the halves seperated, or together. I will look at the position of the shaft. I replaced the shift cable, so i havent been able to adjust it. but it is close. Even with the shift cable disconnected from the motor, I cannot shift it when the outdrive is attached
 
ok, with the outdrive mounted, it will not go into reverse at all. i can move shift shaft with a screwdriver and get it in neutral or drive, but reverse is binding for some reason
 
throttle is is full reverse, (top silver shift shoe) lower locked in reverse (bronze shift shaft) when i shift to foward, both line up and will slide on. reverse binds, I guess this is why. Help!!
 
If you've done precisely what kghost posted, and if it were me, I'd go back through the cable installation steps very careful and see what I could find. It's gotta be in there somewhere. It worked before, and the only thing that's been altered is the cable, as far as shifting goes, so I'm guessing that's where your problem is. Everything else sounds good!
 
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For the record, I also replaced the shift shaft bushing to the newer style, and the little roller cam arm. All with mercrusier parts. I need a fresh set of
. eyes on this. If I ever need to take off, and seperate the outdrive at the lake for a quick fix (water pump) and put it back together, I can now do that complete process in about 15 minutes! Haha!
 
where do you live?

Maybe a phone conversation is needed.

otherwise here is the short shift cable adjustment proceedure.

I have posted this many times and it is what I have used for many years.

If this does not solve the problem then you assembled something wrong and a verbal conversation may be needed to understand what.

Trim out drive up 2 inches from all the way down.
Take keys out of ignition!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a second person stand at the prop.
You, remove the short shift cable from the shift bracket.
After the cable has been removed, push the plastic cable end all the way in and hold in place while prop is being spun C’Clockwise..
Have second person rotate prop counter clock wise until the prop is fully engaged and wont turn anymore. Maintain light effort on shift cable plastic end pushing it to keep forward engaged.

Measure the distance from the center of the brass trunion to the center of the round mounting hole in the plastic end. Adjust trunion to make that distance 6 inches. no more no less! In cases where the shift cable is old but still works well you can adjust this dimension to 5 15/16”. NO MORE.

Put shift control handle in forward FULL throttle position.
Remove the control shift cable from shift bracket at this time.

Install short shift cable back onto bracket at this time.

Take the shift control cable and adjust the trunion so it fits perfectly back into the shift bracket.
Before installing it turn the brass trunion 4 complete turns away from the plastic end and reinstall into shift bracket.

Now put shift control handle in the neutral position.
Have second person spin prop, it should spin freely.
Put shift control into the forward detent position at ~ 10:00 position. NO FUTHER.
Have the second person rotate the prop counter clockwise. You should have solid engagement with no ability to continue to turn the prop.

Now shift back into neutral. Prop should spin freely with no clacking or clunking.

Now shift to reverse to the 2:00 o’clock position detent NO FURTHER!!

Have the second person spin the prop clockwise.

If you have positive engagement with no clunking or jumping out of engagement, you are done.

If it does not fully engage into reverse than look at the shift bracket where the short shift cable mounts and there is a slot. Loosen the 7/16 hex that is touching the bracket and move the stud so you are pulling the short cable.

Try this and retest in water under load.

try all this and report back...........if verbal conversation is needed send me a PM with your number and when to call.
 
YeH, I saw that. Close is relative, right? Posting on phone, easy to miss, eaiser to just answer question .
I will pm you later this week, thanks
 
I have been following your postings on your shift problems, I have to say that everything Mr Kghost has told you is right on 100%.There are however three items that I would check. No 1. you mentioned that you replaced your shift shaft bushings with the new style, I would first verify that the lower and upper bushings are flush with the casting bosses, if they are not flush this will limit the total vertical play. No 2. The washer installed on the drive shift shaft per mercrusier parts manual is 0.060 thick, the thinner the better,all this washer does is protect the seal face, try using a thinner washer, No 3. the shift coupler (brass) with the cotter key and washer should be a loose fit, I even spread the cotter key on the inside so the coupler will fit lower on the splines, The fit between the shift coupler and gimbal housing paw should have clearence, using a flashlight and mirror you should be able to see. Any binding will be magnified thru the shift mechanism.
 
I spoke with floatin radio yesterday.

His confusion appears to have happened when he assembled the upper and lower housings as first pointed out in the begining of this thread.

He apparently did NOT spin the prop counter clock wise while turning the shift shaft clockwise all the way and the joining the upper and lower and having the "BRONZE" shift arm point exactly to 12:00 straight forward. The lower nor being in forward with the prop c'clockwise locking everything in place was the issue, I believe he spun the prop clockwise and this put him out of forward.

I ask that he post his results when he gets it all figured out.
 
kghost,
I have a small question. I was reading this feed because my dad has a boat that is having problems going in reverse. It's a Baja Islander 180, Mercruiser 3.0 and I believe an Alpha one.

Last year we was just getting on the lake and my dad turned the boat to sharp from the dock and ran aground. Instead of waiting for me to push him off, he puts it in reverse and gives it all it has. Ever since that day it make a clicking noise, then shifts really hard into reverse. Is this just a cable adjustment problem? Or something bigger. Thank you for your help!!
 
I will be going through the same procedure as floatin radio with respect to mating lower and upper units. I have been searching for a lower unit for about three weeks now and may have finally found one. I had issues similar to this but problems had to do with the shift spool on original lower. Of course, it was an original with probably many hours of use. Just wondering if I will have to tweak adjustments on engine shift interrupt again when installing the new lower unit? I found this to be the most challenging and to tell you the truth, I could not have done it without the help of kghost and the rest of you guys. I found out that the adjustments are for the most part unforgiving and will not work correctly unless you are dead on. aapws08, I am not as knowledgeable as the rest of these guys, but I had the clicking sound when I was in the process of adjusting my shift cables. (Anything is possible) However, your dad may have done damage to the lower unit. I just wiped out my lower unit on a rock in a local river system that I should have never gone to in the first place. All the trouble in the world is out there waiting for you. I was lucky enough to make it back to the dock but it is going to set me back in time and $$$$$. All this aggravation over a simple water test! lmao! Oh well, I guess I have to chalk it up and become more familiar with the water I am running through in the future. floatin radio, I am glad to see you got it going! Very good! P.S. Sorry to jump on your thread, but felt it has much to do with what you have just experienced. I originally tried to accomplish the task with a manual, spent countless hours playing around with adjustments that I had the slightest idea of how it actually worked. Took it to a boat mechanic, still wouldn't work! Came right back to this site and after communicating with these guys, had the boat shifting in about two hours. (helps to have two people when doing this kind of stuff) My point: Listen carefully to what is being said and you will save yourself alot of aggravation! lol Been there and done that! lmao! all the best, Tom
 
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1973,

As long as the shift cable, control shift cable and bell crank and vertical shift link in the bellhousing ore all within specification then installing any lower unit replacement should be fine.

Like you pointed out the weak link would be the shift spool and shift crank that engages thwe spool.

Here is the merc specs for checking cable slop and shift cable movements.



Control cable test

if you remove the shift control cable from the shift bracket, shift the control handle to full forward/wide open throttle and make a mark on the cable end, now go full reverse and repeat. Measure distance between marks, (2 7/8" to 3 1/8") any more and replace the control cable.



Short cable measurement test,

remove short cable from shift bracket, push all the way in and spin prop by hand until full forward is made. Make a mark on shift cable end where the plastic stops over the metal.
Now with someone holding the prop from spinning pull the cable end out with two fingers, as soon as resistance is felt mark the inner cable where the plastic cable end ends. Now measure between the marks,
The measurement should be if I remember correctly 1/2 " to 9/16". anymore and the cable or linkage is bad.
 
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