Reverse and neutral adjustment
 

My forward clicks in with a moderate amount of force - pretty easy to use. A bit stiff. My reverse used to go in and stay there, with an appreciable neutral zone. One day my reverse started not engaging, so I tightened the reverse adjustment nut. Now I barely have any neutral and I still don't have reverse. What do I need to do? I've been going out sailing with forward only.

Bad shift cable
 

My boat was stiff to shift also. Turns out the shift cable itself was rotten/rusted.
http://cajun.dyndns.org:81/seeker/cable1.jpg
http://cajun.dyndns.org:81/seeker/cable2.jpg

After replacing the cable things things worked a LOT better.

Mine did that, too. Wouldn't go into reverse all of a sudden. The cable sleeve had broken lose in the binnacle and the lock nut had to be re tightened. Then to get the shifting just right I adjusted the forward then reverse as per the Moyer manual. Tiny increments on the adjustments- don't ask how I know.

On the stiffness- when it took 30 seconds to go from forward to reverse something had to be done. Ordered new teleflex cable on Amazon. Installed in less than 2 hrs. Shifts smooth as...whatever.

Check the attachment of the cable sleeve (outer jacket) at both ends. If these are not firmly attached, shifting will get sloppy/non-existent.
Also, disconnect the cable from the transmission and shift both the transmission and the shifter into full forward. The ear on the cable should move only a small amount (1/8"?) past the hole in the transmission arm. If it moves further, you're losing travel in the cable - which ends up ultimately in loss of neutral.

By all means make a thorough check on all the previous suggestions but there's another possibility inside the reversing gear housing. It's possible you've lost the roller situated in the end of the reverse adjusting bolt. It rides on the tapered reversing bar that slides horizontally fore and aft. Check page 6-3, lower right in your MMI manual.

I'm having trouble visualizing this but the nut seemed to spin without much way of securing it. Would this have to do with it? I do have *some* reverse ability. At the dock, at idle, it will start spinning in reverse and it makes the right noise.

Also, thanks everyone.

No, the roller is not part of the adjustment. To hold the nut in place there's supposed to be a spring steel hairpin clip that rides against two flats on the adjustment nut. Please take a close look at the picture in the MMI manual that I referenced previously. The roller is identified in the picture. The nut locking clip can be seen in this post.

Thanks. It is definitely not there.
If i 'tighten' the nut, as to make reverse engagement easier, does that make the neutral zone wider or smaller? I will wire in safety wire from that bolt to the adjusting nut after adjustment.

Smaller.

Good on you for securing the adjustment nut, otherwise it will fall out of adjustment readily. The original spring clip is intended to be able to adjust it without removing the clip. Search Kaminsky Modification on the forum for a great aid to that adjustment (must have the spring clip for the Kaminsky Mod to be viable).

That spring clip was the first "break down" I had a couple of years ago. I bought another one from some place in the mid west for a few bucks. I'll dig up the address if you're interested.

Turns out the clip is still there. I turnes in another 180 degrees and i have appreciable reverse at the end of the lever travel now, amd some semblence of neutral (have to hunt to find). I think what happened was that the clip wasnt securely pressing against the flat surface of the nut. For now, i will just see how it does but in hindsighr i should have safery wired it.