95caliber

While out on my maiden voyage with my new to me 32 baja, i noticed the shifters were very tough to move in to gear, forward and reverse. I mean real stiff ! Any ideas on why? The previous owner said he only went out once last season, so the baot was not used much last year. Can i lube the cables or something?

GOODT

Need more info what brand shifter, what drive/engine ect

Outdrive1

Disconnect the cable from the throttle to the transom bracket and see if the lower and the drive shifts easily by hand. If they do then you can see if your controls or your cable from your helm to your controls is bad. I have bent my cable at the transom bracket by leaning on it while in the engine compartment, if your controls shift easily with nothing hooked up to them than it's more than likely your cable, assuming you checked your lower cable and your drive first.

95caliber

Note sure what brand shifter, looks like the original equipment. Its got bravos on it, with 502's. Hope that helps.

formula31

Like Bad said, Try unhooking the cable at the engine to find out which part is sticking. DONT try and shift the drive unless its running.

MOP

I normaly disconnect the cable from the converter to the drive, that tells you if it is controll cables or in the drive. My Blackhawk drive which has the same shift setup as the bravo was very stiff, it was not in any of the cables or shifter. I pulled the back cover and greased the the inards, there is a ball detent that must be take apart to grease it right as it has a sliding sleeve plus the ball must turn freely. When I put it back together it was like butter, I have seen so many tear into cables and shifters when a little grease on the drives shift guts made them shift like new! Believe me Merc is very stingy with grease, all older drives can be made to shift great with about 1/2 hours time. The new Bravo X like I have now has the shift guts in the uppers oil cavity so they do not have that problem. If it is stiff at the drive pull the cover before you do anything else trust me 10 cents worth of grease is magic!

Phil

95caliber

So, I will try disconnecting the cable, but can I manually shift it at the drive without the engines running?

formula31

No, dont try to shift the drives without the engines running.

Outdrive1

Bravo's use bump gears and they don't engage very well without the gears spinning. You could end up damaging your lower cable trying to shift it without the motor running.
Fire it up with the cable disconected and shift it by hand, then go shift your control and see if it's still stiff while it's disconnected. Once you narrow it down you can start eliminating stuff until you've found the problem.

Mr Gadgets

95,
Either run your motors on the hose or do it while out in open water. It only takes a second to remove the cable from the shifters to the transisition block and shift the drive into gear. While the cable is disconnected you can try to move the shift levers and see if it has any drag.
To remove the back cap you must drain the oil down to that level. If it isnt time to change your gear lube you can just drain a quart and then pull the back cap. Use Merc 101 lube to grease up the detent ball and socket and put a big gob on the shifter lever. One other issue is the lower cable. If it is bent, it will cause problems. Hopefully, greasing the detent ball will cure the problem and no cables need to be replace.. Let us know what you find..

Hope this helps
Dick