A4 Transmission Woes

[Shane]

I have an A4 that was just rebuilt last year, today when attempting to swith into forward after backing out of my slip I found that the forward "gear" was very hard to switch into, almost like something was stopping it from engaging. after playing for a while I was able to get it into forward gear but the lever "sticks" and has to be forced into and out of forward. The was no problem 3 weeks ago when I moved the boat fron it's winter slip to my regular slip so this has me confused. Can anyone suggest where to start looking?Thanks,Shane

 

[Garry @ S/V TASHTEGO]

Shifting

There are three possibilities that you can look into fairly easily. The first is that something stowed in the locker behind your shifter is interfering with the linkage (I am assuming that, like my Cat 27, your linkage is exposed on the back side). The next is that something is interfering with the linkage at the transmission. Third, the linkage has come adrift at either end (nuts vibrating off mounting bolts for example) and is binding. In any case, apply your eyeball to the linkage and have somebody else try to shift into forward.