Bravo One not going into gear
 

I have a 2000 BAJA 272 with a 454 MPI and a Bravo one drive. Boat has been flawless ever since we got it other than some minor things. Saturday we took her out to the lake and went across the lake the party cove. Everything worked fine all the way over there. Got out there and put it in neutral and was going to have my wife put it in reverse to seat the anchor. She went for reverse and nothing was there. I jumped off the bow and tried forward and reverse and there was nothing. We brought to boat home and i pulled the drive thinking the worst. Once I had the drive off I manually shifted into forward and spun the input shaft and the prop shaft turned. I moved it into reverse and same thing prop shaft turned like it should. I got in the boat and moved the gear lever to forward and the shift cable at the back of the boat functioned properly and then I tried reverse and it moved the other way properly. I thought it might be the alignment of the cables so I took the lower shift cable off and manually moved it with the drive back on and it won’t go into gear (this all with the motor running). I am at a loss now. There are several posts on this subject, but nothing that is the exact issue I have.

Any ideas? The next step for me is to order an adjustment tool just to see if that will help at all, but it doesn’t seem like it will.

might be the engine coupler splines

We checked those. They looked fine. When The boat is running on the ears and I put the boat in forward it is somewhat easy, but then when I try to get back to neutral and then revers there is quite a bit of resistance, almost like the cable is getting pushed from the other end.

have you looked back behind the engine while it's running to verify that the input shaft is turning ?

We did verify that yesterday yes.

I feel like if it was a coupler it would have went out on the way over to the cove as the water was glass and we were running really well or atleast shown signs of going out..

Pull the back cap and look at the linkage, make sure the bolts are in the shift rod, etc.

Dick

shift cable.

Jmo, if the adjustment is off just a little, shifting can get pretty funky. I would buy the tool ( cheap ) and start there.

Have you checked the drive internal shift linkage, what the shift cable attaches to, take rear cap off to inspect ?

I have not. Im assuming that is pretty easy to do? I am going to try the adjustment tool first, but if that does not work I will pull the back cap.

I would pull the cap first, if it was shifting fine and then not, it's more than an adjustment issue.

Don't forget the ball bearing detent in back cover. They can jam up. There is an inner spring inside the bearing sleeve and a smaller spring that seats in the rear cover. The ball bearing should push in with your finger while in the sleeve then then the whole sleeve moves in and out via the smaller spring

If it shifts easy into forward, and has resistance into neutral & reverse you have internal drive problems, I recently repaired a Bravo1 w/same problem, the Brass ring came off the reverse gear , it was easy to see w/ the rear cap off.
Please let us know what you find.

Shift cable could be broken at the helm or came loose and popped out of shift lever. I had one that broke.

I'll be pulling the rear cap tomorrow before I winterize the boat. I'm hoping I can figure out what is wrong before I put it away for the winter.. it almost has to be in the back cap.. I just want to clarify with you that the shifter goes into forward easy and has resistance going into nutral and reverse, but the drive doesn't go in gear. However when we pulled the drive we were able to put the drive in gear with moving the shift cable clam shell holder while turning the input shaft no problem.

What all should I look for in the drive when I pull the cap off, I know one other person said the detent ball and spring, I have looked at some videos of people taking the caps off and it doesn't look like there is all that much in there.

Thanks to everyone that has replied, you are all very helpful.

Not much in there. Mine went into reverse and wouldn't come back until I removed the cover. I ended up shortening the small spring slightly and buying a new shift linkage. I put the old up to the new one. The new one was shorter by about. 030 to. 060. Meaning the new shift linkage does not depress the detent ball by as much. I also carefully filed a radius on the edges that ball rides on. It shifts fine now. My other drive shifts hard also, I will be doing that one also once I take it off. Here is a pic of the linkage yes it's over priced.https://goo.gl/photos/e43zcKuxrzQKPzPg9

Well I took the cap off yesterday. Detent ball was fine, shift linkage seemed alright also. I think it has something to do with either the "shift fork" ( not sure if that's what it is called) or something with the clutch/gear assembly. Once we finish selling our house and moving ill have more downtime this winter to pull the drive and send it some where or take it apart if I feel I can do that myself.

Mine shifted fine when I turned the shaft and actuated the shifter by hand but not when it was mounted with cover on. Put in gear. Reverse and forward try turning prop shaft should not slip in either gear. Did you check to make sure the small detent spring is not broken, could be binding up. Upper and lower gears oscillate up and down to help pop in and out of gear that's why you need the alignment marks opposite + on top - on bottom or vise versa. You can see the taper on the brass rings upper and lower. When gears are spinning you will see shift fork moving up and down. Might be qproblem there. Good luck I wrestled with mine till I got it right. Don't force shifter you will break something.

Thanks. Once I finally figure out what is wrong I will make sure to respond with detail on what it actually was to hopefully save some other people some trouble. Right now it doesn't sound like it will be this year. but possibly early next year.

My guess is the lower shift cable. The outer case corrodes and fails, this causes reduction in the inner cable movement because the outer sheath moves. With the drive trimmed up have someone move your shift lever while you watch the shift cable by the bellows. If the outer sheath of the cable moves the cable is bad.

Good point. Lots of good answers here

Well Just picked up the boat last weekend and It was Stripped engine coupler splines.. Had the motor pulled, engine coupler replaced and motor put back in. Just figured I would post what the fix was so anyone having the same issue might be able to check this on their boat.

So the coupler was only stripped in one direction?

No, The coupler splines were just stripped.. The difficulty shifting was because I messed with the adjustement of the shift cables. The prop would not turn either way.

Good to hear u found the problem.

That is EXACTLY what happened to ours. What we guessed was that the prior owner thought he was smarter than an alignment tool and proceeded to tighten down the motor mounts - knocking the engine out of alignment. What I've done since having the coupler replaced is every other year have the alignment checked -- Also, make sure you lubricate the splines with the correct grease- I have a dedicated grease gun and a very long extension hose with a NAPA adjustable -zerk coupler that I use. If you have insomnia you can search OSO and read about the frustrations that I had with a Harbor Freight zerk coupler -- URGH

Glad you got to the bottom of the issue.

3pointstar

Wow I've never seen one strip except for one I repaired years ago on a 4.3. It is a pain to align the shaft without 2 people. Also of climbing in and out of the boat until the alignment tool slides in freely. Those rear motor mounts are not all the same. Personally they should have made them adjustable, it would make life so much easier

The mechanic said one of my engine mount bolts was loose and that is what caused the issue. It was cheaper then a drive to fix so I was happy.

What it should look like.
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...pszxbdtdxv.jpg



What it should not look like....
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/t...ps2wetgkpo.jpg

off alignment and lack of grease cause that.

Asking -- Also any impact damage on the prop ?

Off of alignment yes. I thought lack of grease would cause the rubber to grenade in your engine compartment not strip splines.

No impact damage to the prop at all.