trans

[mikke60]

looking at a P30 with a atomic 4. the owner tells me that he had an issue with reverse and ended up breaking the shift lever off the boat. Ant chance the tranny is not the issue,rather the cable jambed,and, if it is the tranny,what will a rebuild cost me? thanks, mike s

[TomG]

Hey Mikke,

Does the shaft turn?

The tranny on the A-4 is amazingly simple and reliable. The reversing gear is one of the most trouble-free components of the engine, according to the Moyer Marine A-4 Manual. I will not bother you with the mechanics of the transmission, but simply put, reverse is applied via the shift lever by squeezing a metal band around the gear housing. This band occasionally needs to be adjusted. If the shaft turns by hand (in neutral, of course), you might just need to adjust the reversing gear brake band. It could also be a jammed or frozen cable. The shifter cable was frozen when I got my boat. Because the Previous Owner couldn't get it into gear, I was able to use this information in my price. Replacing the shifter could be a small chore and not cheap. A new shifter runs anywhere from $300 to $500. I've priced them. A new cable runs $75 to $150.

[Dave Neptune]

Simple

Mike, if it runs you can still operate the shifting arm on the trans to test. You can get a feel without. Reverse is nothing more than MANUAL pressure on the SHIFTER collapsing the band to hold in reverse, good reason for a failed cable! In forward the tranny should lock in with a felt clunk as the detent holds the pawls to keep pressure on the clutches.

Dave Neptune

[JOHN COOKSON]

Mike, if it runs you can still operate the shifting arm on the trans to test. You can get a feel without. Reverse is nothing more than MANUAL pressure on the SHIFTER collapsing the band to hold in reverse, good reason for a failed cable! In forward the tranny should lock in with a felt clunk as the detent holds the pawls to keep pressure on the clutches.Dave Neptune

+1
Release the cable from the tranny and shift by hand.
This way you'll be able to see if there is a problem with the cable or the tranny.

TRUE GRIT

[67c&ccorv]

looking at a P30 with a atomic 4. the owner tells me that he had an issue with reverse and ended up breaking the shift lever off the boat. Ant chance the tranny is not the issue,rather the cable jambed,and, if it is the tranny,what will a rebuild cost me? thanks, mike s

He probably thought "reverse" engaged like "forward" does - leaned on it and broke the lever or the cable - all the while thinking there is something wrong with the reverse feature???

[prstack7]

simple adjustment

I have a P30. He probably broke the shifter because he just kept pulling the arm when it didn't go into reverse. Just need to adjust the bands to "squeeze" on the tranny or adjust the cable length.

[smosher]

I also have a p30 and I did have to adjust the band to use reverse but
this is with a pedestal shifter

Steve