Bravo XR reverse shifter issues
 

I have a Baja 302 with 496 Mag HO motors and XR drives. My starboard shifter, when moved into the reverse position will chatter and slip out of gear, into neutral, unless you hold it with your hand to keep it there. When the shifter is in neutral with the boat on trailer you can spin the prop and hear the shift dogs clunking, like it is still partically in gear. How does one adjust the shift cable to maybe correct this? My port side is fine.

Firstly,did this just start happening or has it begun after something was repaired or changed?
The shift cable that goes to the drive,mounted on the shift plate on the motor should have in neutral position, 6" between the barrel and the cable end center.
If this is the case quite possibly you have a bad cable.
Remove the shift cable from the plate and see if it shifts by hand while someone spins the prop.
Bravo's don't like being shifted when the motor is not running,turning the prop by hand helps somewhat.

I just just bought the boat and the old owner told me it's been like this for a while.....so I don't really know. He was not real fussy on little mechanical details like this. I read another thread that said put the boat in the water, unhook the shift cable, start motor up and move shift cable by hand. When you find netural by hand, make sure the shift lever is in netural and adjust the barrel so that the cable fits into place. I will take a look at the 6" cable length also.
Thanks

You don't need to put it in the water.Just have someone turn the prop by hand while you ,motor not running push pull the shift cable.
Prop will lock each way as it goes into forward and reverse.

Bravo's do not have clutch dogs to hear clunking. They use a cone clutch in the upper. I would look at the magnetic drain plug in the upper to check for metal. Not to worry you but XR's make me nervous when strange noises are heard. If you are comfortable with wrenching you can check shifter cams easy enough. Good luck, I hope it's nothing.

If you are running it out of the water with the props on, take them off and try it again. The mass of the prop, when shifted into gear, can make it do some funny things.

So I pulled the shift cable loose from the shift/throttle plate and while my wife spun the prop I shifted the cable by hand. The prop does lock up into forward and reverse but in netural the clunking noise it still there when she spun the prop. Boat is out of the water on trailer with drives in the up/trailer position. Problem is starboard side...port side prop spins in netural with on noise.
Also when boat is in water the starbord side gear shift lever will kinda chatter it's way out of reverse if you don't hold it in. Any when you pull it out of reverese or forward you can feel a little flutter on the shift lever.

Did you check the magnetic drain plug? You really need to have it looked at.

Pulling out of gear it is normal for the bumping, from the brass bump rings on the gears that wedge in the shift cam and shift fork to pull the clutch out against the torque trying to hold it in gear.
Is this a new problem?
If the cable is mis-adjusted it may prevent the shift from rotating fully into gear. This would happen in forward or reverse, but not both. It could also be why it isn't correct in neutral. Usually the cable from the drive to the shift bracket is correct, it is crimped on the barrel at the correct length.
There are also some internal parts that could bend or break causing similar shift cam issues.
Someone familiar with Bravo's as well as cable adjustments could get a probable diagnosis pretty quick with a first hand look.

MP,
the bravo drive has to have the input shaft turning to allow the shift mechanism to work properly. Turning the prop only turns the gears in the lower and the clutch shaft and cone. The upper gears need to be moving so the space between them, because the brass rings are tapered the shift fork will hit one or the other and not let it go fully into gear.
The cone clutch is pushed by the fork until it starts to engage and then the upper vertical shaft with it's course screw thread pushes it into the gear and locks it in.
If it is not into the gear fully, then it may get kicked out by the fork cam and be the reason yours wont stay in gear.
When you spin the prop in neutral, you should not feel any thing, just smooth rolling. I would take the back cap off the upper and make sure the detent ball and springs are intack. Start the engine remove the shift cable from the bracket and see where it lines up with the bracket. If the barrel doesnt go back in easily, adjust it so it does. If it was off by much it could be the problem. But I suspect you have something else going on.. Check the magnets, as mentioned, that will tell you if the gears are coming apart.
A common issue is the ball and detent. It may be stuck or the ball broken out of it's holder.. But I would not run the drive until you look further..

Also if the center adjustment (barrel) or the depth adjustment (slot) is off it can cause the cam to rub on the brass rings and cause wear, heat, metal, etc.

Hope this helps.
Dick

I pulled the rear cover off and the detent ball and spring were there and looked OK. The lower unit grease that came out of the cover had small metal particals mixed in the grease. The clunking noise I hear when hand spinning the prop when in netural position seems to be comming from the upper housing area. The prop will lock up in forward or reverse when hand spinning the prop but in netural there is this clunking noise. I ran the boat in the water all week end and it worked OK, but I am nervious.

I split the upper and lower gear housings. With them apart the and turning them both (the upper and the lower) there is no noise. I took the coupler put it onto a broom stick and turned the upper gear case/clutch and no noise. So I bolt the two case back together and less noise but still a clunk noise. As I torqued the bottom case and the upper down back come the clunk...when you pre load the input shaft bearing on the lower gear case the clunk appears. Any ideas??

I dont like the idea that you found metal in the upper, or anywhere for that matter..
But the clunking you are hearing, I believe is the upper clutch shaft moving up and down, taking up slop. It is normal to have that. Usually you dont hear it when the drive is full of oil. First time I heard it.. I though something was wrong. But looking into it, I found that when the top cap goes on it will free up the clutch shaft some and allow it to clunk if you rock the prop shaft back and forth..
Now about that metal.. was it fine dust or flakes and chunks?? The latter is a problem. :(

No chunks and just a small particals/dust. When I drained the grease tonight I drained it from the bottom there were a few particals on the magnet of the drain screw/plug.
So you do not think there is anything wrong with my lower prop shaft gear case?
When my gear cases are bolted together the clunking sound reminds me of an old Alpha drive in gear and some spinning the prop backwards....it is a real clunk clunk clunk...with every turn of the prop. It is not back lash noise.
The bearing that I am talking about it on the input shaft of the lower gear case...to perload it you have to bolt the upper and lower cases together...that is when the clunk noise comes back.

problem solved!!
 

Ended up finding a bad/rough bearing on the input shaft of the lower gear case. There are two bearing on that shaft and the top bearing was rough only when it was per loaded by bolting the cases together. I took the lower to a Merc dealer and they had a bearing plate to perload the bearing with the lower off of the upper. Once we installed this test plate you could feel the bearing. The shop replace the two input shaft bearings and all is working OK now!!
Thanks
Mike:drink:

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