shift lever is completely jammed due to poor winterizing I think

[afsam94]

Absolutely no shift lever movement fore or aft even with jiggling and significant pressure in either direction. One suggest I have been given is to fill and soak the trany box with diesel because it has "creep" which should loosen things AND THEN OF COURSE GET IT ALL OUT before attempting to run. Note engine runs and seems to spin prop slowly in the forward gear diretion.

I have even tried pushing my foot against the shift lever with significant force but nothing moves.

I will try some of the adjustment screws and then I guess I will have to take the shift lever linkage off?

HELP ME PLEASE BEFORE I REALLY DAMAGE SOMETHING!!!

[ndutton]

Your post was not specific on this point, have you disconnected the shift cable?

[Mo]

I'm with Neil. Disconnect the shifter cable and move lever with your hand. Most likely a seized cable causing the situation.

[ArtJ]

Sometimes the shift lever itself can freeze up. As suggested, try disconnecting
to isolate shift, cable, and tranny. I have had a shift lever freeze up in the
past. Usually solved by mystery oil and disassembly.

Regards

Art

[afsam94]

Thanks. Will try disconnecting cable Wednesday

Thanks. Will try disconnecting cable Wednesday and post the results.

[ILikeRust]

+23 (or whatever number we're up to now) on the shift cable. My boat was on the hard for 13 months, and when I was finally ready to try the engine out again after the rebuild, I discovered the shift lever wouldn't budge. I pulled the cable out and found it totally seized. I took the cable home and soaked it with Kroil (great stuff) and got it moving, then spent about 10-15 minutes moving it back and forth a whole bunch, then hit the Zerk fittings with fresh grease. Now it's nice and smooth and shifts easily.

[joe_db]

I had to replace my shift cable as well. I really can't see the tranny itself being jammed. If it was, I would suggest filling the engine with MMO. That would have no ill effect if you couldn't remove it all.

[afsam94]

Great suggestions + elephant snout, + smart girlfriend win the day

Tried easy troubleshoot you suggested first: Disconnected shift lever on gear box from shifter cable to see whether it was the cable or the shift lever on the gear box that wouldn't move.

I was so pleased to find the lever on the gear box shifted smoothly fore and aft (once disconnected from the cable) I nearly crapped myself in relief. Finding the gear box reversing lever on the engine OK, I tried moving the reversing lever in the cockpit which was still intact with the cable fore and aft without success. THIS CONFIRMED IT WAS THE CABLE IN ITS RED SHEATH THAT WAS STUCK!!

Now what? I did not want to completely remove the cable. Screws/nuts fastening the two ends of that cable to the boat where in extremely awkward positions to get to, particularly the one behind the control panel with the cockpit shifter lever mounted on it. Instead I disconnected the fastening near the reversing lever on the gear box (a clamp over the cable sheath held by two screws with nuts), and lifted that end of the cable as high as I could out of the locker nearest the engine and banged on it a bit with a mallet. Still no movement.

Enter the Elephant Snout and the inginuity of my girlfriend. I removed the clevis pin fork connector from the end of the cable and slid the small end of a long skinny plastic funnel down over top of the cable to just beyond where it entered the long red plastic sheath winding through the bilge to the cockpit shifter lever. I tried pouring a little oil down the funnel and it promptly came out the end of the funnel drpping into the bilge.

"Why don't you use a.....a.....thing, you know, like you used on that other tube?" she asked. Huh? We stuttered back and forth then she got it out "hose clamp!!" Of course!! firmly but not too firmly I sealed the small end of the plastic funnel over the end of the red plastic cable guide sheath with a hose clamp and holding it as high above the lazzerette as I could I sprayed in couple ounces of WD 40 filling the funnel up a couple inches above the end of the sheath so gravity would pull it into the minor space between cable and sheath. I propped the funnel up that way and took my brilliant first mate to lunch.

When we returned the cockpit reversing lever moved the cable throught its sheath with slight pressure and three hours later it we found it smooth. Done!! Thanks to all Afourians

[ArtJ]

you might want to replace that cable anyways. It could fail anytime and usually
at the worse time.