Reverse question

[Ultra912]

I noticed recently my boat w/Bravo one doesn't move very responsive when engaging reverse. This weekend I noticed that the prop doesn't engage until I throttle it a wee bit. Is this a sign of problems to come? 2004 Shockwave Tremor

 

[Shrub Lurker]

sounds like a cable adjustment at worse a cable. does it shift okay otherwise from neutral to forwards? has anything changed or other work recently performed?

 

[Ultra912]

Operates/functions normal. Shifts ok. I'll have my cables checked out. The steering wheel seems a little stretched also.

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

I noticed recently my boat w/Bravo one doesn't move very responsive when engaging reverse. This weekend I noticed that the prop doesn't engage until I throttle it a wee bit. Is this a sign of problems to come? 2004 Shockwave Tremor

I would drain the lower unit oil and check for pubes on the drain plug as well as a burnt odor, that is a bad sign. If not its likely just a cable, you can adjust them on the linkage that is mounted on the inside of the transom. Typically a cable comes from the shifter to the linkage, and then a smaller cable leaves the linkage and enters the drive. I would also check it on land and see if its engaging, ie will the prop spin when you put it in reverse.

 

[zx14]

 

[Ultra912]

Thanks.

 

[Ultra912]

Late first time out this season. It now takes a little more throttle to engage prop in reverse and it has a bit of a thud when it engages the prop. zx14 posted a photo above. What is that? hinting something other than a cable?

 

[boatdoc55]

Late first time out this season. It now takes a little more throttle to engage prop in reverse and it has a bit of a thud when it engages the prop. zx14 posted a photo above. What is that? hinting something other than a cable?

That's the cone clutch in the upper gear. It spins between the forward gear and the reverse gear in the upper. A finger moves it up or down depending on what gear you have selected. It goes into a cup on the gear and the friction between the two hold your drive in gear. The more RPM's the more it engages. In the Volvo Penta drives, which Mercury copied, the cone was brass and the gear cups steel, that way it would grab better.
I know nothing about the Mercruiser drives but I'm sure they work very similar. In the V/P drives many times the brass cone would transfer metal onto the steel cups and they would start to slip. With your situation it sounds as though it MIGHT just need an adjustment to get it in gear faster. The clunk you hear and feel is it going into gear at a higher than normal RPM and is really slamming the cone into the cup. On the V/P this action was VERY hard on the pieces that held this mess together and sometimes would let go completely and shoot the upper shaft out of the top of the gear box.
Once again I don't know much at all about this shifting system on the Bravos but they are a copy of the V/P so you may want to have some one take a look at it or possibly do a search and find out how to adjust it yourself, it isn't that hard to do. The shift plate is somewhere on the engine and will have both the remote cable and the intermediate drive cable on it and that's where you would do the adjusting IF that is the problem. It would be the first place to start in my eyes.

Good luck

 

[Ragged Edge]

I would add that going into gear at a higher than optimal RPM can damage the gears as well. The longer you wait to address this the more likely you'll fracture or break the teeth on the gears.

 

[Ultra912]

Thanks guys. I've scheduled an appointment at the shop I use but he's booked until July 30th. Anyone know of a shop in Havasu that can address this earlier