Drive Shift hesitation
 

My Bravo XR drive hesitates a few seconds (4-6) before engaging. Is this a shift cable adjustment or something more. Drive oil changed every 30 hours and inspected twice a year with no problems to date. ~ 200 hours total.

Does it only hesitate in one direction (forward/reverse)? If so, cable adjustment could be off or shift fork mechanism could be wearing out. Sometimes they can even delay so much that you give it throttle and it bangs in gear....not good... :(

When it does engage, does it engage hard,( like normal)
or is it kind of smooth and slushy ?

If it's the latter, it's probably the gearset/shift cone.

A good test would be to swap the drives from
sides to side.

If the problem stays with that side it's a cable/ adjustment
issue, if it goes to the other side, it's a gearset/shift cone
problem.


My old boat had the symptoms you describe.

You could barely feel it engage....it was the gear set.

Mark,
If it isnt a misadjusted cable then the cone clutch may be worn. I had a guy setup my drive and for some reason he modified the shifter fork cam. Well it worked fine until one day I was about to crash into the dock when my motor died. I had to do a fast restart and slam it into reverse.. After that it would do what you are saying.. If I revved the motor some, it might engage and it usually didnt when I was trying some tight manuvering at the dock..
My suggestion is find a spot that you can safely remove the cable from the shifter transistion block. Just the cotter pin that holds the barrel into place. Now shift it into gear, if it works ok there, then a cable adjustment may fix it.
Does it slip in both fwd and rev? If so then the amount of throw may short. If only one the center point may be off..
When you get it back to neutral, the barrel should slide back into the bracket easily. If it is off, then adjust it so it does slide right in. That will take care of centering, if everthing is ok in the drive.
After that it is time to look at the clutch..

Hope this helps..

D*ck

Thanks for the info guys. The shifting is kind of mushy, but does the same for forward and reverse. I talked to my wrench guy about it. He said there are grooves in the clutch cone that let the oil out when the drive is engaged. When the grooves wear out, the delay is the oil getting squeezed out. I'll be back at the boat in 2 weeks to check it out. Will try the cable adjustment first. DOes the XR Drive use the same clutch for forward and reverse?

Yes,
Mark they do use the same cone clutch. Although there are different ones for the old style (pre OM) and the newer units. Your guy is correct, if the grooves are flattened that can be a cause. But I have seen them pretty flat and still work ok. But cable adjustment first, then take a look at the clutch and shift mech...

Pull the back cap and take a look at the detent ball, they colapse at times..

mr.g how hard is it to replace the cone clutch?

Not that hard, you just need the right tools. There is a spanner wrench for the retainer nut that holds the input shaft in. Then you need to remove the top and back cap and remove the shift fork and rod. Then the gear stack comes out.. and you disassemble that.. etc. The cone clutch is in the middle.. After doing it a hundred times or so.. it is fairly easy..

Hope this helps..

****

The cable you have circled is the shift cable from the
helm.

The drive cable is below that.

Here's a picture of the bracket.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_...2D+Design+I%29

Using D*cks proceedure for adjustment.

The barrell he mentions is mounted in item # 10,
it's held in by a cotter pin.

To increase the lenght of the throw, adjust the stud
( item # 15) upward.

hope this helps.

The barrell is on the drive shift cable, not
the cable from the helm.

The adjustments you want to check for are
with the drive shift cable ( underneath the helm cable)

[B]In the manuel ....it`s not the same than me ...but he speak about adjusting the backlash of the control cable .... i have to check for that ???
again sorry for my poor english ...and thanks to take time [B]

25, I sent you a pm.. more later when I am not so tired.. :(

D*ck