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Pre-Alpha Shift Cable Issue

J

J Haas

New member
Hello All,

I have a '65 Mercruiser 120 that I have been working on for some time. Little back story...*right afer buying took out for test run, forward and reverse working but*engine over-heat in short distance... ok, so I should have known it would have a bad impeller, but im new to the boating world. So i decided to learn it well and did the following:*

rebuilt engine (inside of engine beautiful, no carbon build up at all, thanks be), rebuilt carb, new points, wires, coil, plugs, battery, temp sensor and a few others i think.... dropped lower unit and replaced impeller, fresh fluid in upper and lower (no pass through hole, as in '66 and newer models)... all together dropped boat in water

wont come out of forward.... didnt touch the shift cable in rebuild process but on inspection found it has disconected from the screw set in the plastic piece on end of cable.

Now I have reset the cable end into the screw set loseing about a quarter of an inch of my cable, reseting the center to center distance to 6in and sliding all back into place and I only have forward and neutral, attempted all adjustments i can think of and can only get to the edge of it going into reverse.

Any suggestions Please, not trying to replace cable, have I set the lower unit wrong.... is it possible if it slid in smoothly? Im thinking that the quarter inch removed from cable might have made going into first difficult but thats not an issue, might i be wrong, if so I can repair cable to make it longer again or worst case actualy replace the cable, but it doesnt add up that id have to. Any insight would be a great help!

Labor day is right around the corner and i hate to spend it wishing I was on the lake.

Thanks in advance,
~JH
 
Have also tried to disconnect and manually shift cable same results... if doesnt pull out far enough to do more then click like its trying to go in :(
 
Also Shift Interupt reacting and killing engine when throtling from trolling speed... have to move quickly past cut off gap to keep it from dieing then I have a very short distance between gap and full tilt. What is too high of an RPM to run at?
 
When you reassembled the lower to the upper you did NOT have the lower in forward gear.

Redo it this way and retry and repost,

1. put shift control in forward

2. remove lower unit

3. shift lower unit into forward, (truning prop counter clockwise untill fully engaged, (does the '65 have a bronze shift arm?) if so this must be pointing forward towards front of boat (12:00)

4. reassemble carefully keeping lower in forward and shift link straight until it engages shift link in gimbal housing.

retry and repost with result
 
Okay, shift arm placed in forward, lower unit dropped, gear selector turned clockwise while prop is turned counter clockwise and held in place, ? bronze shift arm ? Dont think so... gear selector linkage (? shift arm) only goes all the way up in one possition, any other placement leaves apx 1/4" gap when sliding lower to upper, with all aligned slides together fully no resistance... placed single nut to test, same story as above... forward, neutral, and cable wont pull out far enough to engage reverse even with it disconnected.

With lower disconnected it seems turning the gear selector counter clockwise and the prop clockwise does not lock in as well as forward does. Is it possible the cable is not the problem at all but something in the lower unit is preventing the selector from turning far enough?

Thanks again,
~JH
 
anything shorter wont work, may need a new cable now thats its short.
00b.jpg
 
So if all measurements are as listed above then it should not matter what the distance between the two ends are right? I think that I need to double check the 1- 3/8" measurement.

Thanks for the info!

Heres hopeing.
~JH
 
Please take a picture of your lower unit where the shift arm (?) is. and where it engages in the gimbal housing. Your boat is very old and not many are seen these days so not sure of the exact parts used in 1965......
 
In the picture attached shows the area of concern and components that I speak to in my previuos post.

PIC A: shows the shift shaft in the lower unit. THIS MUST BE TURNED FULLY CLOCKWISE, while spinning prop by hand and engage full forward gear. It may need to be done with a small pair of pliers so be csareful not to damage the splines. The prop must be kept engaged and in forward. if it slips out this splined shift shaft will move!!!!!!

Pic B: shows the shift arm/link in the upper housing and it must as shown be pointing forward 12:00 and slid over the splined shaft in pic A and kept in the 12:00 oclock position at all times.

PIC C: shows the shift linkage in the gimbal housing and should be exactly like that pointing forward (the U shaped end) when the shift control is in forward gear.
Note: that U shaped piece must fit snug over the shift arm in pic B, if it does not use pliers to close gap so it has less than 1/16" of slop.

Please retry this and see if this works first before adjusting any cables.....
 
Thanks everyone for trying to help. Im still at a loss... I get into forward and neutral perfectly, still no reverse... guess I am going to have to take the outdrive off and really get into it, I dont see any reason why the shift cable would cause this issue, everything else mentioned above seems to be in order as well... I can only hope it is just something in the way, the only other explaination I can think of is a twisted shift shaft in the lower. will get back to here, when I have time to dig into it, with updates.
 
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