Transmission linkage shortening

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Mar 30, 2018

WD40. Soak the cable. Use the hose thing and get the spray going down the inside of the cable. If that doesn't work then you need to replace the cable.

walmsleyc · Mar 30, 2018

Just replaced both my cables. My old ones might have been original (31 years old!), and the difference is night and day. Took all my strength to shift (manually shifting the transmission level required only light dinner pressure), and now it's like butter.

SG · Mar 30, 2018

Isn't there a screw clamp about 6" from the transmission down below? It's like an old gas pedal cable if you had a car with a carburetor. You loosen the screw and adjust the cable's position to match where you want it, then tighten the screw.

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Mar 31, 2018

Tdaddy,

There should be a metal clamp that secures the cable to the metal plate. Your issue might be the clamp is missing.

What are your symptoms that you are trying to fix?

Tom J · Mar 31, 2018

Anthony, as Jesse said, first check the clamp holding the end of the cable to the mounting plate. If that is tight, you should be able to adjust the cable end. If that is frozen, soak it in penetrant as Jesse also suggested. If none of these are the issue, remove the cockpit table and the compass binnacle and check the helm end of the cable at the shifter. While you are in there, lubricate the steering chain and the cable ends as per the Edsen manual.
A simple check of the transmission operation would be to pop the end of the cable off the ball at the tranny shifter arm, and manually engage the tranny in forward and reverse.

Tom J · Mar 31, 2018

Yes, the mounting plate would be wherever the cable and clamp are attached near the tranny lever. It does sound like you just have an adjustment issue.

paulj · Mar 31, 2018

I replaced old bracket and cable.
New bracket made from starboard.

JK_Boston_Catalina310 · Apr 1, 2018

Tdaddy,

Seems like you might have an issue with the Edson handle. If you look at the bottom of the actual handle you should see a screw, flat head iirc. Loosen that and take the handle off. Look at the splines on the inside of the handle and the post the handle attaches to. You might have some corrosion and other build up causing the handle to slip or be misaligned. The splines could have stripped too.

SG · Apr 1, 2018

TDaddy (with an 18-year old?):

Assuming that the binnacle or cockpit control is hooked-up and working.

Set the cockpit control to reverse. Go down below and measure (or mark somehow, on say a piece of tape with a pen, or whatever the position of the manual transmission control or exposed cable "core"; and, then,
Go back to the cockpit, and set the transmission to forward -- and go below. You should see enough difference in cable length to effect the gear switching.
Now you should loosen the clamp. Move the "manual " transmission lever on the engine to the forward position (or reverse, if that's what you have to do). Then tighten the clamp.
That should do it -- unless something is wrong with the transmission (I doubt if it was working before) or the cockpit if you installed the cable connection correctly.

It's possible on some cockpit installations to have some adjustment too. If that's the case, you just need to adjust both. You just need to "synch" the position of the two. You might have some adjustment that you have to do to make the cockpit "lever" position and the "clamp" match.

SG · Apr 1, 2018

The clamp is a device that holds the transmission cable's "outer" sheath in place so the inner cable can do it's pull- or push-thing. You need the out sheath FIXED at both the cockpit side and the transmission side. Then the inner cable (which can "transmit" the force from the cockpit lever to the transmission lever.

Take some pics and post them if you have any questions. The clamps to the out sheath need to be tightened with the cable in position and "coordinated" or "in synch" in the cockpit and at just before the transmission level.

TDaddy:

Did this problem just happen? (e.g., i) everything was fine, cable isn't operating stiff, and suddenly you couldn't get it in forward; or, for example, ii) you replaced the cable because it was too stiff, and now it doesn't work; or, ????)
Assuming that everything was fine before, and suddenly it doesn't shift into forward, most of the suggestions of posters above have assumed that your cable clamp (or restrainer) near the transmission came loose.

If you want to go to the beginning of the diagnostic process (you either look for the easiest solution that brilliantly and usually fixes the problem) or you go to the "WORST" situation which may take more work to deduce.

In the WORST, but hopefully unlikely situation. you want to see if you manually adjust the lever at the transmission down below, does everything work. Assuming you're in slip with decent cleats and pilings, make sure the boat is tied-up and adjusted with double spring lines, you need to verify that IF you move the lever at the transmission manually into forward and reverse, that the transmission does what it's supposed to. (If you're pretty sure that's not the issue, then don't do this.)

Then you want to see that the "throw" of the transmission cable actually will be adequate to move the lever in its forward and reverse conditions. If the lever weren't connected to the engine you could "stick it in and stick it out", you should have just enough "throw" to effect the moving of the manual lever using the cable.

In order for that to happen, (assuming that it was working before) you just need to make sure that the position of the cockpit lever and manual lever at the transmission are in their coordinated position (e.g., both are in "FORWARD"). Then you restrain the outer sheath of the cable with the clamp(s). You then check to see if the same result occurs when you move the cable into REVERSE. It should work unless something odd happened.

The reason that most people send you the transmission side is that is i) most readily available to inspect, and ii) it usually is the issue. The cockpit side is often in the binnacle and less convenient to get to. (On your Catalina 310, I have no idea.)

I didn't have (as Mark Twain suggested, long ago) have time to write a short response, so I wrote a long one.

If you as still unsure, get you camera or smart phone out and post some not too large images of the conditions at the transmission side. Your sketch is fine -- it just completely omits the "clamp" or other restraint for the cable. There is or had to be one there.

paulj · Apr 1, 2018

You have now seen both ends of the trans cable............

Maybe Stu from Maple Bay Canada could give you so advice....

Tom J · Apr 1, 2018

Tdaddy2000 said:
Thank you. Symptoms are the clutch lever is contacting the support arm forward of the binnacle. Although I can still engage the transmission into forward, the clutch lever didn’t always contact the support arm when engaged in forward and I can tell the transmission is just barely engaged when in forward. When you say “mounting plate”, do you mean the lever plate that the cable and clamp attaches directly to and that originates from the transmission? See image attached

When you say the tranny is barely engaged, does that mean that it feels like it is slipping? If you increase the throttle, do the prop RPM's increase accordingly? There has been an issue lately with the Hurth trannies slipping in gear. A friend asked me to help him check out his transmission. It slips in forward until it warms up and suddenly engages fully. We disconnected the shifter cable, and, with the engine running, moved the lever to forward, and gunned the throttle. Sure enough, the prop shaft RPM's dropped from idle to almost nothing. A few minutes later, the tranny engaged normally. Now, this is a brand new tranny supplied by Hurth under warranty. They had rebuilt his old Hurth when it started slipping, and that tranny started slipping. Now the new unit does the same thing. Hurth is examining his old tranny to figure out what is going on, and will get back to him. Meanwhile, he is stuck with a new unit that slips.
I noticed that the fluid in his tranny is clear. My Hurth calls for ATF, which, of course, is red. I asked him to check with Hurth about the change in fluids, but no reply yet.
What color is your fluid?

dziedzicmj · Apr 4, 2018

If you have a transmission cable like mine, there is no way of moving the outer sheath of the cable. You can adjust the length (there is a threaded ending), but that is probably not enough. The short-term solution might be to move the "manual lever" on the transmission (rotate it on the splines), so that you have more throw before you hit the binnacle with the lever at the helm. Another option might be to move attachment point between the cable and that "manual" lever (there should be two holes in it; the original attachment point is at the end, but you can move it closer to the centre of rotation. this would give you more movement within the transmission with shorter stroke of the lever at the helm (but you would need a bit more force (classic fulcrum)). This should help, but if it does not, it might mean that your friction plate is getting worn. You don't want that, though.

paulj · May 15, 2019

Tom J said:
When you say the tranny is barely engaged, does that mean that it feels like it is slipping? If you increase the throttle, do the prop RPM's increase accordingly? There has been an issue lately with the Hurth trannies slipping in gear. A friend asked me to help him check out his transmission. It slips in forward until it warms up and suddenly engages fully. We disconnected the shifter cable, and, with the engine running, moved the lever to forward, and gunned the throttle. Sure enough, the prop shaft RPM's dropped from idle to almost nothing. A few minutes later, the tranny engaged normally. Now, this is a brand new tranny supplied by Hurth under warranty. They had rebuilt his old Hurth when it started slipping, and that tranny started slipping. Now the new unit does the same thing. Hurth is examining his old tranny to figure out what is going on, and will get back to him. Meanwhile, he is stuck with a new unit that slips.
I noticed that the fluid in his tranny is clear. My Hurth calls for ATF, which, of course, is red. I asked him to check with Hurth about the change in fluids, but no reply yet.
What color is your fluid?

This is happening to my Hurth trans. What was the results from Hurth?
paulj

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