Shift Cable Clip

aero3113

Anyone ever have their shift cable come unclipped at the drive? We were leaving to head back to the dock after an overnight on the hook, got up on plane and about 2 minutes later my starboard engine started to rev. I pulled back the throttles tried to shift the starboard engine into forward and reverse, nothing, would only rev like it was in neutral. I thought for sure I lost a coupler or worst case a drive. I shut down the starboard engine and headed back to the dock on one engine. When we got outside my marina I went to restart starboard so I can have my steering back and nothing, not turning over. I thought for sure worst case scenario. I started thinking, the starter isn’t turning, the neutral safety switch must be out of the detent. I opened the hatch and sure enough, the throttle lever was in neutral but the linkage was forward and the switch was out of the detent. I pushed in the linkage with some force and it popped into place, now the switch was in the detent. Starboard engine started right up and I now had forward and reverse. Went for a quick run and everything was back to normal. 

aero3113

No one has ever heard of this happening? 

Also when you have one engine fail, what’s the best RPM to run at with the good engine? I think I was around 2000 RPM @ 7-8 MPH for 45 minutes until I fixed it.

reneechris14

That the frist time I heard of the cable coming out. Yes one motor 8 mph the more you throttle up just plows more water but no more speed. The shift cable is in a slot in the drive hard to believe it could pop out.

aero3113

Something went back into place when I pushed the linkage back into neutral.

YYZRC

I limped a bit today while I was looking for the spare belt.  9mph was max with tabs all the way down (was using tabs to help steer), agreed that any more and its just plowing.

Sounds like you need to pull the drive and replace your shift cable this winter.

aero3113

I was thinking the same but the boat shifts very smoothly with no binding. I’ve been reading that when the cable wears the shifting becomes very stiff and hard to get into gear.

aero3113

I could be wrong thinking this was the issue @Alswagg, the clip that you pull up to release the cable on the drive.

aero3113

aero3113

@Alswagg , that’s the thing I didn’t pull off the drive. I pushed the linkage on the riser while I was in the water and it popped into place. Everything seems to be fine after that. Went for a test run and shifted a bunch of times, smooth and no binding.