BRAVO 3 STUCK IN FORWARD

jhofmann

I was approaching the dock by the ramp and shifted into reverse so slow down when the boat surged forward. I was able to shut off the engine before the bow scraped up the ramp, and the outdrive dug into the river bottem. I was able to lift the drive and push the boat off the ramp with only scrapes on the drive and bow. The problem in the outdrive is stuck in forward, and will not shift out. I replaced the cable a little over a month ago. I know from experience (twice) when the cable rubs through on the drive shaft, it will usually shift into reverse(pulling the cable)
but not into forward (pushing the cable through the cable housing). Any ideas? 

Michael T

You didn't by chance run that cable too close to the bell housing and have the cable worn partially through? My 2013 EC 310 had one of the cables miss installed. Luckily for me it frayed and jammed the drive in forward while the area Mercury rep was out in it with a dealer tech setting-up my Axius. The boat took a hard 90 degree turn and headed right for a line of boats in slips before the Merc rep managed to shut off the engine in question. The other cable was fine. Poor guy nearly had a heart attack, so did the dealership tech. It was  brand new from the factory. It only had about 2 hours on it. That's how fast a cable can be worn through if too close to spinning parts. I took pictures, something else!!!

jhofmann

I replaced the cable last year only to have it get stuck in reverse a coupe months ago, I ran the cable incorrectly and it rubbed on the drive shaft. When the cable housing was worn through, the inner cable would push through the housing instead of pushing the drive into forward. Six weeks ago I replaced the cable again using the factory diagram to properly route the cable. Yes the cable was an aftermarket.

Dream_Inn

I've had a cable rub thru as well because it was ran the wrong way.  Got stuck in reverse and luckily at slow speed ended up bumping a piling.  Sounds like many people have ran the same cable the incorrect way.

andyd

That's one heck of a scary feeling, losing control like that during a critical maneuver. Has anyone experienced this problem with a V-P drive?
Andy

DanD2

I had a cable break on my port Volvo DP motor while in reverse this past summer. Confused the crap out of me for a bit. At first I thought both motors were stuck in reverse so I backed out of the channel. Once out onto the lake, I figured out that the stbd had forward and thought that just my port motor didn't have forward. I used the stbd motor to get to my slip and when I got close it was not handling as I expected. Backed out again and then realized that the port was stuck in reverse...LOL

Easy thing to change the cables on a Volvo Penta. Should have done the stbd at the same time, I didn't but will before I splash it next year.

jhofmann

Pulled the outdrive and found the nut that is part of the cable housing where it goes through the bell housing separated so when I went into reverse, the outer cable housing pulled through the housing rather than pulling the shifter into reverse. Better the cable than the outdrive!! Next cable will be Mercruiser instead of aftermarket. Didn't hit another boat, only scraped some paint on mine, and no one was hurt, so it could have been much worse.