Looking for info on a shift cable

[msmith10]

Jim,
Sorry for the delay. I'm on my boat in a thunderstorm-- wifi is iffy. I sent PM. You can reuse the old clamps. They are identical as is groove on the cable to accept clamps.

[Jim Booth]

thanks!

Great info and spot on. Thanks much! The new cable went in very smoothly. All the old hardware worked fine. Maybe we should start a survey on cable lengths for various boats so everyone could find what they need. The new cable also works much better. I think people should replace their ancient cable even if it isn't broken. It gives a much tighter response with less effort. So now shifting into forward is a simple click. Before, we would have to push the lever past the forward position so it would latch in place. Now, it's very direct. Reverse has a more definite position also, although I think I'll loosen it a little to give more neutral zone. We bought it from "Earl the pearl" but boatfix.com also had it in stock and their online ticket method to handle questions worked very well. Just farther away so we opted for distance instead of the $ savings. Jamestown couldt it have gotten it in a week or so...

Jim

[msmith10]

glad it worked out. My cable didn't actually break-- it was just so stiff that it sheared off one of the end clamps, leaving me stuck in forward. When I went to repair the clamp, I realized that I couldn't move the cable by hand, and I knew that wasn't right. The new cable is a pleasure to use.

[keithems]

if i remember correctly, over 30+ years the lubricant in the cable hardens, making it pretty useless

my old one was so stiff i bent the solid steel shifter lever trying to get into fwd -- and i'm not usually that strong!

k

[Beckettnole]

I have the same bot, was your length 11’ ?

I have the same boat. Was your cable length 11’?

I went through this 1 week ago (shift cable BV replacement). It's good to be proactive. I've owned the boat 9 years, and it always shifted hard, but since everybody says Atomic 4's shift hard, I didn't think much of it. Last week I went to turn my boat around in my slip to wash the inboard side before a race, I pulled the shift lever up to go in reverse, heard a "pop" and suddenly had no reverse, no neutral-- only forward. The shift cable was gone.
I got back to my dock without any damage to anything but my pride, but it was a real bear getting a replacement. I had to get it air-freighted in from Connecticut.
The contributor above is right- you want a Teleflex 6400 series cable. They come in 2 basic configurations: with a bulkhead mount on one end or with clamp configurations on both ends.
The number for this cable with 5/16-24 threads on the ends and the clamp on style at both ends is ccx64311. The 11 on the end specifies an 11 foot length. You can try Jamestown Distributors. They list a price of $188.53. You can also just google teleflex ccx64311 and there are lots of hits. If you need the bulkhead mount, go to teleflex website and look through the catalog for the model number.
After replacing my cable, I don't know why people think it's hard to shift anymore. I can now feel the detent in forward, have a generous neutral zone, and comfortable reverse.

[msmith10]

I don't recall the length- that was 10 years ago, but from my post I think it must have been 11'. I also think I decided I could have gone 1 foot shorter but better too long than too short. You can always slink it around a little if it's too long.
Also note that I have a wheel and pedestal. If you have a tiller, I don't have any idea what length you'd need.