Bravo shift cable uncoupled
 

So last fall I was running in some rough water and hammered the boat pretty good. I found out the hard way when pulling away from the beach that my drive was stuck in forward. That was just 1 of the 4 bad things that happened that day. After I got the boat back on the trailer and home, I started to dig into it and didn't find anything wrong in the boat. At this point I pulled the drive. What I found was the shifter cable came disengaged from the clasp. It didn't seem to damage the clasp when it came out, but I'm concerned that it may happen again. Has anybody else had this happen and should I be concerned?

never heard of it...

Are you positive it didn't just come apart as you pulled the drive .I've never seen one just come uncoupled while all together .(what ezstriper said)..Even with a less than perfect clasp........

Well, I had to pull the shifter foot out of the drive after I pulled the drive. So it was definitely disengaged. The shifter moved far to smoothly for it to be doing anything in the drive.

the way they are designed I don't see how unless something is broken

Something has to be damaged or bent for it to come apart.

look at the tunnel the clasp sits in,,make sure its not enlarged/damaged.This would be the only way that the cable end could pop out.
maybe on a long shot,the cable is so maladjusted for forward your pulling the cable close to the end of the tunnel.
look everything over real good,even pull back cover off and look at the hinge of the clasp by the shifting fork,may be worn or bent.

Some other shift cable problems for whomever. Was a problem in 2010. And ended up a federal recall.

http://www.marinemechanic.com/merc/m...wire-en_11.pdf

God i love the power of OSO! :D Cant beat a member like BUP helping out here :cool:

sounds like cable separated not comes unhooked at drive to me..

Cable is fine, and I know it sound very unusual, but the cable did pop out of the holder in the drive. At this point I can't see anything wrong with the cable holder in the drive, I'll have to verify the adjustment when I get the boat back from the fiberglass guy. How far it the cable lug suppose to stick out of the drive?

Here is a picture of the cable holder. Anything appear wrong with it?

http://s27.postimg.org/xrbb6zucv/IMG..._192221733.jpg http://s21.postimg.org/taj30ifo3/IMG..._192114474.jpg

YUP - it is worn and the keeper on top is bent.

The keeper on top should be centered OVER the slot on the bottom where the cable goes. Also I believe when it is pushed back in the top keeper should come down lower ( almost touching the bottom piece.

A little greasy but it is 21 years old.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]552892[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]552893[/ATTACH]

You can see how mine is centered and locks down tight.

Here is a better picture with the shifter pushed into the bore so the clasp shuts. I included one with the clasp pushed towards the holder and one away. Should it be able to flop that far over?

Tinkerer, does your clasp turn down on the right side or is it a flat? Can't tell clearly from the pic. It almost looks like your clasp covers more of the cable holder.

http://s23.postimg.org/i7wi4chtj/IMG..._201219127.jpg http://s17.postimg.org/ft9cwfkq3/IMG..._201239638.jpg

HaHa, I don't know how you can tell what you are looking at from those pictures. Reminds me of the ultrasounds the doctor looked at before my kid was born - yep, looks just like a foot to me. :p Glad to have OSO members trying to help, just thought it was kind of humorous because my blind ass couldn't make anything out. :D Not bustin your balls Tinkerer - hard to get good pictures of this stuff sometimes.

Here is a drawing of the clasp that I found with a web search. Don't know if it will help or not:

http://www.boatingwithtr.com/members...eJaws-Open.gif

Friend of mine used to put a little zip tie around his for extra insurance. You just need to remember that it's there when you remove the drive to prevent pulling on the cable too far and damaging something. :eek:

Here is a related OSO thread that has a pretty good picture:

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...-question.html

Hope this helps!

I think Tinkerer nailed it with this one - it looks like you may have too much slop in yours. I don't have my drive off to compare it. Not sure if the zip tie idea might work, but since the season hasn't really started, might not be a bad idea to get a Merc guy to look at it and maybe replace any worn shifter parts. While he is at it, might not be a bad time to make sure your seals, bellows, etc are in good working order.

Thanks, Dick went through the upper a couple years ago, and everything else appears to be OK. The part is cheap enough and I don't think it will be that difficult to replace. It's not that I don't believe this may be the issue, I just want to make sure this fixes it. I do not need this cable pulling out again. When I noticed the issue, I was pushing off of a river bank and when I started the boat as it was floating back I ended up lightly bumping my boat neighbor on his swim platform because it was stuck in forward. Could have been a lot worse.

I wonder if my wife shutting the boat off in gear then putting it in neutral a couple time caused the clasp to bend since the way it has to pull.

That is a big HELL yes. Never shift without the engine running. If it will come out of gear easily - OK - but never force it. Bypass the neutral safety, fire it up beached or tied well to a dock and pull it out of gear..