Gear Shift Cable

[Ray Green]

I have a pedestal mounted gear shift lever on my C&C 30. When I took the boat out this fall I intended to put in a new shifter cable over the winter.
Does anyone know what type of cable I should use to replace the existing one?
I have checked West Marine & they have 3300 series, 4300 series, & 6400 series all at increasing prices. I'm not sure which one to purchase.
Do I need to disassemble the entire pedestal assembly in order to replace the cable?
Any help on this would be great.
Thanks
Ray

[gfatula]

I replaced both throttle and shift cables on my 1977 Islander 28 last July. The Edison Pedestal did have to be disassembled but not removed. It was a bear of a job. The 4 ss machine screws that hold the top pieces of the pedistal had to be hollowed out with a drill so I could collapse them into their threaded holes and remove them. The cable clamp that secures the pedestal ends of the two cables to the pedestal was also very difficult to disassemble. I had to take both cables out together and I purchased a new clamp for the two new cables. It is a pricey little part, close to $40.00 just for the clamp.

Taking the cables out requires disconnecting them at the engine and the transmission. It also requires loosening the cable that turns the rudder post at the rudder post. That cable is attached to a chain that rides on a sprocket that in turn is mounted on the shaft the wheel turns. There is not enough clearance to get the cable clamp out of the top of the pedestal unless you move the chain off the sprocket and off to one side.

Here is Edison's instruction page.

http://www.edsonmarine.com/support/PDFs/maintenance/eb92316.php

I also found a pdf copy of their pedestal diagram that shows all the internals of the pedestal.

It took me a couple of weekends because everything was so tight. I replaced all the fasteners and coated everything with anti seize compound.

Hamilton Marine will tell you which cables are the correct ones if you give them a call. I think they are 3300s.

Good luck!

George

[knitchie]

Gear Shift Cable

I am also needing to replace this cable. I have seen references that with the A4, we need the heavier cable. http://www.edsonmarine.com/marinesto...ndex&cPath=217 Edson is pricey; I suspect we can find better prices elsewhere.

Someone on the Catalina 30 list provided the following information to my request for "how to" info. It inlcudes instructions from Edson that are a little different.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ken:
Your assumptions are quite accurate. The item isn't really a guide but rather a clip that fastens the ends of the cable housings in a fixed position.
Here is how I did mine.
Attach retrieval lines to each of the cable forks, undo the acorn nut on the back of the binnacle and pull the cables down from the bottom. Replace the cables. Mine were of different lengths.

When you are ready to reinstall the cables, take a small nut and attach a fine strong thread to it and drop it down the hole at the back of the binnacle. Tie the thread tightly around the threaded stud on the back of the clip.
With your partner (this is definitely a two person job) pulling the retrieval lines and the thread from the top , you work the assembly up from the bottom. The assembly (two cables and the clip) will be a little awkward but working together you can line up the stud with the hole and then gentle tugs on the thread will pop it thru the hole. Remove the thread and screw on the acorn nut.

The Edson instructions are a little vague and tell you to work the forks from the top to position the stud to the hole. This didn't work too well for me and we devised the above scheme. http://www.edsonmarine.com/support/P...ntrolInstr.PDF

My shift cable bound up (rust I suppose) and I decided two replace both cables. They were relatively in-expensive and in stock at the local boat store. The ones I use have the brand name "Teleflex"

George F. Goodall
Cat 30 TRBS #4329
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fair winds,
Ken - Obsession
C30 TRBS #0973
Lake Champlain, VT

[jhwelch]

I had hope to replace my cable last spring but access was impossible to
the end near the shift level and last summer the bolt holding the clip in
the pedestal let go with spectacular results.

The boatyard tried several approaches to get at that clip and finally
did what I had first suggested--drilled a 1 inch hole in the pedestal,
which made access possible to repair and reinstall that pesky clip.

[knitchie]

Gear Shift Cable

There are several threads on here, like this one http://www.moyermarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=453, that recommends the 64 series, rather than the lighter 33 series, cable. There are also bread crumbs around that Morse used to make thes ecabl;es before being bought by Teleflex. I found this document, http://www.pyacht.com/Morse-Cable-Selection.pdf, that cross-references old and new PNs. Looks like we're all looking for what uis currently known as CC694XX, which is a replacement for the 6400BC cable. But, I have yet to find an online supplier of this pn. Still looking.

Ken

[gfatula]

64 for the shifter, 33 for the throttle. Teleflex is what I purchased from Hamilton Marine. They were exact matches for the original. The folks at Hamilton were great!

I replaced both to avoid having to dissemble the pedestal again. All is well now. My shifting cable failed as we were departing from Somes Sound, on Mount Desert Island, after 4th of July fireworks. 300+ boats were headed down the sound and when I lifted the anchor I couldn't understand why my wonderful first mate wouldn't shift into forward and head off to port. It was an exciting moment or two as we backed in a circle among a crowd of happy boaters all headed "out" in the dark! I managed to engage the transmission one last time from the helm and we motored home. That cable could have failed at a much less urgent moment but that is often how those things go. I am embarrassed not to have noticed how badly worn that cable was when I replaced the engine. It looked rusty where the covering was worn but I did not see that the end fitting at the transmission, beneath the remaining cover, was so rusted it was on the verge of failing. It did! I should have suspected more and given it a through test then. It may have been the original cable set. The boat was stored for most of the last 20 years of its life.

George

[luvmyi36]

For what it's worth...

I have been pushing off the job of replacing the throttle and shift cables for a few years now. When I bought my boat, the shift cable was worn through the casing. After determining that the structural member of the cable was "oozing" out the casing when force was applied, I tore down my pedestal and started to try to pull the cable out. After a couple hours of cussing and beers, I looked at it another way. What if I took a bunch of hose clamps and made my own new casing around the problem area? There are probably a dozen clamps on my cable at the split area, but I have had zero problems with it since then. I know the day is coming that I will have to tackle this challenge, but I have sucessfully put it off for a few years, and I think it has a few years left in the repair. In fact, I will probably replace the soon to be rusted clamps before I replace the cable itself.

[gfatula]

Jim,

That was my first hope. I put the transmission in gear and left it there for three weeks while I sorted through the options and located parts. My cable was too far gone to make "patching it" reliable. My mooring allowed me to start in gear if I couldn't sail off and coast back up to it at the end of the day. That worked and I was tempted to finish the season that way! It was a frustrating exercise and took time and beer. It became a 3 beer session a couple of days a week for three weeks. Now I know how to fix the thing and on this boat will certainly never need that knowledge again. It does feel good knowing that I can expect forward motion when I need it now.

George

[Dave Neptune]

cables

The A-4 shifter when properly adjusted is quite a load to push & pull. An old mechanic I learned a great deal from had a saying around boats and race cars and I have found it to be quite profound. "Fix it right cry once (money) fix it cheap cry twice!"

David

[luvmyi36]

George,
I applaud your efforts! Good on you! I have never been one to put off repairs, but, this one just seemed so easy to make functional without any blood, sweat, and tears that I said why not.

Dave,
Agreed. Always better to bite the bullet and do the right thing. I was offering a simple, temporary solution that has worked for me. Obviously, my cable will need to be done one of these days before it gives out at an inopportune time..... I keep a very watchful eye.

[russg]

reverse cable set-up

My catalina 30 has a yacht specialties pedestal steering. However, the gear shift and throttle control were mounted backwards. The gear shift cable connects to the bottom of gear lever at the engine rather than the top. Doesn't appear that there was any room to have the cable run to the top of the gear shift lever...same is true for the throttle control. I want to correct this installation. Anyone have this experience.
Thanks
Russg