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Shift Cable Bellows Replacement--Can this work??

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superdave5599

New member
I've got a 2000 Tahoe with an Alpha 1, Gen II outdrive attached to a 5L GM.

We (finally!) went to put it in the water for the first time this year on Saturday. Our local lake was really high most of the summer so far, and I was taking grad school summer classes, so simply no time to get it going until this weekend.

Anyway, as we were prepping to take it off the trailer, I heard water leaking into the bilge. Pulled it out and discovered the shift cable bellows was torn in a couple places. Since then, I've looked and see the exhaust bellows is checked but hasn't cracked open, and surprisingly, the U-joint bellows looks very good-no cracking at all where I could see.

I know that the proper maintenance procedures would dictate that I pull the outdrive off, replace all the bellows, the gimbal bearing, the trim sensors (I also have a broken wire on one) and some other things "while you are in there."

But if I'm realistic, we may only have like 4 chances to put the boat in the water the rest of this season... And if I can't fix this without pulling everything, then we probably don't put it on the water at all this summer.

So if possible, I'd like to replace the shift bellows this time, and then over winter I'd like to take my time to pull the drive and replace all that stuff. I don't mind replacing the shift bellows two times if necessary to facilitate this.

I did some searching, and it seems doable if I unhook the shift cable from the carb and fish it out from the engine side, put the new bellows on, and run the cable back. I liked the suggestion to tape a rope to the cable to make sure it returns through the correct routing.

So is this doable?
 
If, and i repeat if you can dissamble the shift cable, pull inner core out then unscrew outer core from gimbal housing without ruining the outer core.
Then you can replace shift bellows only.
Then comes reassembly....that you hopefully can do.

If your answers are yes then go for it.
If you answer no.....bring it to someone who can.

FYI, shift cable does not attach to the carb......
 
If you are not leaving your boat in a slip and are trailering it in and out every day, a torn shift cable bellows can wait. Leave the drive trimmed down and the steering turned hard to Starboard when not running and the leak will stop/slow.

To pump out possible water during use, just make sure you bilge pump is in good working order..
 
Yeah, I misspoke by stating unhook cable from the carb... I was at work and it has been a while since I've had to do a boat repair. Just meant the end inside the boat. This one has been way more reliable than others I've owned!

As I said, I'm aware of the proper fix, and I know I need to get in there and do some other maintenance. I just am hoping to be able to get on the water a couple times before the end of the season.

I was considering the idea of not much water coming in if the trim is all the way down before coming back and seeing that post... I kinda figured that could work... This is the first season in years we didn't have a slip in the marina.

I think I will give it a shot pulling the cable out from inside. The boot itself was about $10, so I'm ok with replacing it twice. (Once now to be able to use the boat a few times, and again when I pull the outrive and do it all.)

Here's a video where he does what I'm thinking of.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUd01UqkUEg&t=1s
 
where do you live?

Of course the video is for those who have never done anything like this...correct?
 
I live in Manhattan, KS.

I've had this stuff apart on earlier boats, just not on a later model. And I just know I won't have time to be able to do everything to catch the last month or so of boating season if I took it all apart. I can take my time later on over the winter, and do it all right, especially if there is no "pressure" to get it done quickly.

So I sort of figure this is worth a try-either it works OK and I get it going and we have some fun before fall hits again, or it doesn't work and I'm in the exact same position as I am right now--no boating this summer at all.
 
Long story short, I think this was a success! For the benefit of future people I wrote the following as I did it.

So here's what I did:

Disconnect the cable from the shift plate, and carefully remove the end guide and support tube. Counted the threads on the support tube to make sure it goes in the same amount.

Interestingly, the manual says the distance from the center hole of the end guide to brass barrel should be 6 inches. Mine measured at 7 inches. Glad I thought to measure it to double-check.

Then I used some Gorilla tape to tape a smallish rope to the shift cable. I found that I did not have enough room to tape the rope to the outer sheath, only the shift cable because otherwise it wouldn't go through the hole in the gimbal housing. Once the cable and rope were through the hole, I separated them.

Then I used an 8mm wrench to loosen the hose clamp on the housing end of the boot and removed it. There isn't much room in there to work! So it is a big pain. I was able to loosen it a bit with the wrench, then wiggle it to an angle I could get a screwdriver on it to fully remove it. There was one rib of the old bellows in the way.

Also a rib of the exhaust bellows is very close to interfering with sliding the clamp and old bellows off.

It appears that the old bellows was at one point glued, but the glue was dried out enough that it just slid off the gimbal housing once the clamp was loose; it wasn't doing much at this point.

The small end of the bellows was just inside the edge of the stern drive and a pain to get to. I was able to grab the metal clamp with a needle-nose locking pliers and wiggle it out a bit. It ended up popping off the bellows and sliding down, and I was able to cut the bit of rubber that was left from the shift cable.

After that, I removed the spiral protective sheath from the cable.

I slid the new boot on, and used a little dielectic silicone grease for lube and shoved it to within about an inch of where it stops at the drive. Cleaned up the grease and put a smear of Ultra Black silicone sealant on the end, and shoved the bellows to it's resting place. I figured it wouldn't hurt to help seal it a little. Though the rubber is tight enough on the cable I can't actually imagine water leaking through there at all, even without the clamp.

Once I was ready to run the cable back through the hull hole, I slid the screw clamp back on the bellows, and taped the rope back to the shift cable. I was able to use that to fish the cable back into the boat.

After that, I smeared adhesive in the inside surface of the bellows and clamped it down. Tightening that clam is easily the most fiddly part of the whole job!

Fished the cable up following the old path (thank goodness I took a couple pics to make sure I followed the same route) and put the inside end of the cable back together, and attached it at the shift plate.

Sitting here, engine off, it seems to be shifting correctly. With the shifter in forward, the prop locks in one direction, and with the shifter in reverse it locks in the other direction.

One question, though. It has been a long time since I've messed with this stuff on a boat. In gear, the prop is supposed to lock if I try to turn it one way, and make a ratcheting noise if I turn it the other way, correct? (As opposed to not hearing/feeling this ratcheting.)

Assuming that is OK, I think I can call this a success, and go ahead and drop the lower half of the outdrive and replace the water pump. Not related to the shift cable, but when we were prepping it, I wasn't convinced it was pumping correctly anymore. I bet the impeller is worn out.
 
Yes it will ratchet in the opposite way

Here is the correct procedure;
Oh and that "glue" is bellows adhesive and that is what you are supposed to use not rtv. Also use a cable tie VS the steel clamp at the small end of the shift cable bellows

Trim outdrive 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. The one that goes to the outdrive.
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/barrel 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 completely installing it turn the brass trunion 4 complete turns away from the plastic end and reinstall into shift bracket and install the nuts but do not tighten at this time.

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 detent position 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.
 
I appreciate you posting that.

I noticed the brass trunion appeared to have been punched into place on the guide tube. (There were indentations on either side of it, and I was not able to easily turn it as I did with previous boats) I take it that I can just turn the whole guide tube in or out a little if needed to adjust the length.

My 7" measurement was with the shifter in neutral, not in forward. So that probably explains that. I didn't notice the part about being in gear in the book, when seeing the 6 " measurement mentioned.

One further clarification/question.

At the shift housing, there is a crescent-shaped hole where the plastic end of the shift cable bolts up. It appears that the intention is for the connector to be able to move/slip within that crescent, correct? I did start loosening it before I saw the cresent, so I wasn't able to confirm. But by the way the parts are put together, it sure seems that the intention is to allow it to slip.
 
So is it acceptable to make any adjustment by turning the guide tube in or out a little bit? In reality it should be within a half-thread of where it was, since I counted the turns unscrewing it from the outer jacket of the cable. I was watching one end of the trunion for the reference point of counting.

And the cable's attachment at the shift plate is supposed to slip in that crescent-shaped hole, yes?
 
No short cable adjustments possible. Only the adjustment in the slot where the short cable attaches.
Never touch threaded tube once installed all the way and locked down.

As far as fitting, refer to instructions. Short cable first, control cable second and that is adjusted to fit the shift bracket...
Never adjust short cable to match control cable...
 
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It is the elongated hole on the shift plate that the bolt for the shift cable attaches to. It is sort of curved, or crescent shaped.

I remembered that there is a guy in the neighborhood that workes on boats for lots of people for money to support his race cars. Walked down the other day and found him in his garage and asked. He said it is supposed to lock down, and the hole is just for adjustments.
 
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