thedonz

I'm not too familiar with Bravo outdrives. Can a Bravo be shifted easily while the engine is not running? The shifter control seems like it is stuck when I tried to shift the gear while boat sitting on trailer not running. Boat has been sitting for 2 years unused.

sakoutis3

Mine shifts fine with engine off. Probably because it was sitting 2 years. Try to lube the cables and joints.

good2go38

Not a good idea. The motors should be running.

LostinBoston

why is it neccesary?
mine shifts fine with the engins off. i dotn do it often but dindt htink its coudl hurt. i woudlnt want to force it though incase something inst aligned.

BY U BOY

Mine Shifts Fine Off

Panther

If the motor isn't running you run the risk of stretching the shift cable. Sometimes they shift smooth other times they can be tight and you'll ruin the shift cable. If you try and shift after the motor stalls it can really stretch the cable or worse it can pull the cable out of the locking clasp and you will not be able to shift at all and it will be stuck in gear. In this case, it's best to crank the motor over while shifting.

Chris288

IT's definitely not a good idea to shift when not running. Merc. warns against this.

A guy at my marinas boat stalled and the drive got locked in gear.. Shut mine off once while still in gear and had a heck of a time gettin it out on the old boat, on the new one I mistakingly did it a couple of times with the dual sticks and didn't have a problem...

leviathan

The fwd and reverse gears have a bronze 'shaker' ring, which is deliberately out of ballance, it's purpose is to help 'unseat' the cone clutch when shifting out of gear.

Your Bravo will slip 'into' gear easily whilst not running, but as has already been said, don't try to force it 'out' of gear unless that motor is puring, as the male & female cones could be well & truely seated (read 'stuck')