So I adjusted the cables and was out this weekend it didnt seem to make a difference (with it taking a while to engage in reverse) so I ran it all weekend and later Saturday afternoon it got worse and it started doing the same thing in forward now. I kept running it, we were out of town and had a boat load of people with so I didnt want to ruin any ones good time. Later that night we went to dinner and when i pulled up to the dock it wouldnt engage in forward or reverse (instead of delaying for a minute). I let it sit and tryed forward and reverse after about 10 minutes and it worked. We got done with dinner and went back to the cabin and it did the something there. So it seems to not want to go into gear once it gets warm and if it sits and cools it will work again. It stays in gear once its in but if i go to neutral it wont go back unless it cools or sits for a while. Does this sound like the cone clutch to every one? Sorry for the lengthy thread! Thanks for all and any help Eric

Eric somthing very similar happened to my niegbors bravo drive, as I remember it there are thin torington brgs. and garder springs that keep tension on the clutch cone when shifting (forward or reverse) in his case a shim for thr torington brgs cracked and the garder spring broke causing too much space (gap) for thr cone to engage.. total parts cost $12.95. upper gear set had to come out to replace the parts.
just a suggestion. good luck with it, keep us posted.

Ok took the drive apart and everything looks good so I think it's the cone clutch. All the springs and shims look good. When I replace the clutch do I need to replace the gears also since the surface that the clutch touches is part of the gears?

I would refer that question to someone with more experiance than I, maybe Mr Gadgetts can chime in

I'm pretty sure the cone clutches can't be bought separately and are only sold with an upper gear set.

I think that depends on how old the drive is, OM and above you can still get the cone clutch. Number 22 on the link.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_...%28STANDARD%29

Hopefully someone with drive experience can give you a bit more info, seems to me you should have to set you gear depth up. ( Kind of like when we set the ring and pinon up on our muscle cars)