Shift into forward issue KM2P transmission

[sea_casper]

Having an issue shifting into forward, checked shifting cable and control lever, shift lever on transmission moves easily manually but seems sometimes to need to go further down than normal to engage forward. Also when lever is moved downward it can also move sideways, as if it has a flexible coupling to the tranny! What can cause that? Engine is Yanmar 3YM30. Having trouble finding transmission exploded view, part listing etc. online.

 

[Ken13559]

Is the gear shift cable secured on bracket on side of engine before the gearbox shift arm? Can you shift the gearbox shift arm by hand after disconnecting the cable?

 

[sea_casper]

Yes and yes.

 

[Benny17441]

Yes you seem to have some play in the shifting linkage that is not allowing the lever to travel fully. A little side play would not be out of the ordinary but for the transmission to randomly require extra travel at the lever to engage a gear could point to wear in the shifting fork. It would make sense to first eliminate the possibility of a linkage fault and the first suspect would be the adjustment and free movement of the cable. Make sure the lever at the control has uninterrupted travel and that the cable is free of snags through its travel and that it is well lubricated. Next the operation needs to be observed, while you look at the linkage have a friend shift in and out of gear to see if you can detect when a fault occurs. If you say the shifting lever pushes out to the side when engaging it would tell me that the linkage is pushing forward as far as it can and then has no place to go but sideways. Separate the linkage from the shifting lever and operate the lever by hand. If you experience the same problem then it is some internal wear component but if it operates properly then the fault is adjustment or something giving in the control lever or the cable itself.

 

[sea_casper]

The cable is fine, the side movement is when I move lever by hand. The problem appears to be when in forward the lever almost touches the boat bottom. I found another thread that suggests repositioning the lever will solve problem. Bolt on it seems tight and cable clamp was tight, I have repositioned cable, but I feel loosening the lever bolt and moving lever up a half inch retighten and readjusting cable clamp should fix problem, I need to understand why lever position shifted over time.