Reverse Cam Modification

[thatch]

Hi Bill, Like our A4 reversing gear, all of the Paragon gear boxes that I have run across over the years have not had a reverse detent. Back when I water-skied behind the early Chris-Crafts, the main purpose of the reverser was to slow them down to avoid dock damage. The current versions of the Paragon and Velvet-Drive hydraulic boxes do have detents for reverse so I'm guessing that the designers had a change of heart about being able to lock them in reverse. I always considered the "non-detent" to be a safety issue. Being able to free up my second hand with the addition of a detent could come in handy on my C-30.
Tom

[Dave Neptune]

Marty, drop a cardboard cut out down the hole and leave the sides up over the hole. Done many running looksee's on lots of things in this manner~really saves a lot of the mess.

Dave Neptune

[Al Schober]

OK, time to back fill this rabbit hole. Things have been a bit delayed by having my truck in the shop two separate days for two separate issues (different parts falling off..).
Tried the optical tachometer trick - no luck. I put the reflective tape on the OD of my Drivesaver, and couldn't get a believable reading. I think the plastic is too shiny - the reflective tape needs to be on a non-reflective surface.
Marty is right about the oil spray - I put the cover in place with no bolts, and oil mist sprayed out of the bolt hole by the water pump.
Finally adjusted reverse by using my shift lever to position the sliding cone about 1/8" from the fwd adjusting nut, and then tightening the reverse nut until it stopped. Seems to have done the trick - engine now revs to 2000 RPM in reverse with no slippage. And the detent seems to work, as now I have to nudge the shift lever toward forward to get the reverse whine to go away.
Thinking about it, this wouldn't be a bad way to adjust reverse even without the modified cam. Just put the cone close to the end of reverse travel, then tighten the reverse adjusting nut. It gives the maximum amount of neutral and might prevent overloading the roller just through running out of travel.