Where's Reverse??

[ElmaBay]

I'm new to this stuff, so please bear with me. I just recently (like two weeks ago) purchase my first sail boat, although I have a life long history of power boating. My friend and I were sailing and motoring the boat back home, always going forwards and not suspecting a problem with reverse, atleast not till be tried docking. The transmission would not go into reverse, much to our surprise. We pulled off a less than text book docking, but all is well. Subsequently, I checked with the previous owner and he admitted that reverse was always difficult to find, but it always worked one way or the other. I'm not into hit and miss docking, and this situation is unaceptable.

I've read the owners manual, researched the net and have found lots of info for adjusting the transmission, but no real information for a transmission that will not go into reverse. Perhaps this is just an adjustment issue, but I'm not certain of this having never had experience with an Atomic 4 before. Part of my problem is that I have not had the opportunity to see for myself how it really should work, as this is my first experience.

What I've done so far is to start at the shifter and linkage - clean them up and make certain that all is working as far as the transmission lever. The transmission goes into forward no problem and I can hear the click as it engages. It returns to neutral fine, although neutral seems to be have a very, very small range. I cannot for the life of me, get the lever to go into reverse.

Could it be that the reverse is set too tight? I'm suspecting this only because of the very limited range of "neutral". The range of neutral position is no more than 1/4" on the lever.

Comments or suggestions?

[Don Moyer]

You might be confused by the fact that there is no detent (mechanical latching mechanism) in reverse.

Don

[smosher]

Reverse also has a 2 - 1 reduction in gearing. So to spin the prop
at the same speed in forward you need to increase the rpm's by 2X.

I have a P30 and when I put it into reverse it takes awhile before
it actually backs up. I have the indigo prop.

[sastanley]

Hi Elmabay,

Don's comment eludes to the fact that you must hold the lever to keep the prop spinning in reverse..Although I have not taken mine apart yet, my understanding is that it is a type of brake band that requires constant pressure on the lever to work.

Welcome to the A4 forum

[ElmaBay]

Thanks for the helpful hints. Interesting about the 2:1 ratio. I will try holding the shifter in reverse to see if that helps. I still believe reverse to be set too tight as the neutral location of the transmission can be interrupted by moving the shifter linkage by only 1/8". Basically rattling the shifter will move the transmission out of neutral. This must be too small of a range to to be useful to anyone.
One thing I forgot to mention the other day is that even when you think the transmission is in neutral (although obviously it isn't) the prop still revolves in a forward motion. The transmission has not engaged the detent, but still the prop turns. Weird stuff!!

[charles@pricefarrington.c]

Before digging in, I suggest the Moyer video on the reversing gear. Very helpful.

[sastanley]

elmabay, yes, your observations are consistent with what a lot of people see. To get my prop to stop spinning forward in 'neutral', I have to hear a little bit of the 'reverse whine' common with the Atomic 4 reversing gear. It will be startling at first, but the louder the whine, the better I think your reverse engagement is.

[CalebD]

Neutral or not?

I like to think about it this way: there are really only 2 gears on the A4, forward and reverse. 'Neutral' is just some arbitrary position between the real gears and is only really in neutral at 1 specific point where the prop does not spin at all. I find true neutral to be closer to reverse gear as sastanley suggests.
We have run our engine on the hard and I have verified that with very minor adjustments pushing the shifter towards reverse will stop the prop from spinning. It is harder to verify this when in the water but you can look at the water off your transom and see some swales of current produced by the lazily spinning prop when still partially engaged in forward gear.
Ditto the whining noise mentioned by sastanley when in reverse. If you do not hear a distinct whining noise then perhaps you do need to adjust the tranny.
Good luck and remember to always approach the dock at the speed you wish to hit it.

[67c&ccorv]

"Where's reverse?"

Isn't it that metal thing with flukes that is attached by a length of rope to the boat???

Sorry, couldn't resist!