Gear Lever Feel

[58yfsb]

The gear levers on my 58YF flybridge have no "feel" at all - it's nearly impossible to tell whether they're in neutral. At first I thought it was my lack of experience but two other more experienced captains had the same problem. Before I do anything drastic I was wondering if this is a "simple" service/rebuild or something better left to a professional? Thanks in advnce.

[MikeP]

Could be stiff cables or needing adjustment at the levers. If it's stiff cables the best option is to replace them. They can be lubricated but I haven't found this any better than a 33% chance it will help. If you have the normal Morse controls, there is an adjustment that determines how much of a detent is felt at the helm position. Usually, with a dual helm setup, only one of the helm positions will have that adjustment available under the cover.

If you want to try lubricating the cables do this:

Disconnect both ends of the cable. Attach one end of a 12" piece of hose around the upper cable. Ensure the hose is held in the vertical position. Put a pan or cup under the lower end of the cable. Fill the hose with Marvel Mystery Oil. Allow it to remain overnight. The MMO will run through the cable and end up mostly in the cup at the bottom. Put it all back together and test it. Sometimes it works very well - more often it doesn't but it's cheap!

New cables work 100% of the time!

[captddis]

I will add to Mikes post that the most important consideration with cables is routing and no sharp bends!

[Genesis]

Yep.

Also, disconnect the gear cable at the selector valve and move it by hand. You should feel a definite detent in all three positions. If its not there, then the selector valve has to come off to figure out why not (not difficult for Allison gears)

[Peter Mitchell]

You did not mention whether your boat uses cables or hydraulics for the throttle and clutch. My '98 Hatt Sportfish has Hynautic controls requiring a mixture of anti freeze and water as the fluid to control throttle and clutch. We recently discovered a very minor leak in one control head and had the same feel you describe. It was impossible to find the Neutral position.

We ordered a rebuild kit and had it fixed it in less than one hour. The other suggestions sound great if you have cables, but it not, .....