Failing reverse on Atomic 4 direct drive

[Manfred]

My reverse was never a great responder. But this season it first decided to workonly temporarily, then stopped doing anything. Finaly, when I was motoring into a nice tight, little marina slip (well, I tried to) it just happend that - when the moment came to stop the forward movement of the boat - I could not get the boat in either neutral nor into reverse at all. An interesting situation came up, but it was resolved peacefully and ahrmless, thanks to a few burly and well built sailors on the dock. =Now I searched the internet and it seems that I needed a new control cable. I put one in. I works great but does not do anything to the motoveate the reverse. The I tightend the adjustment nut inside the gearbodx, without any positive results. Now I am at the end of my knowledge and seek expert advise! The forward works 1A, but I'd like to have that reverse...Appreciate any input!Manfred

 

[don]

try the sailnet A4 list

sailnet.com has a bunch of chat list- there is a specific list for A4 people- some guys are excellent and have an answer for you.

 

[John]

A4 Reverse

The A4 has a detent for forward but has to be held in reverse. If you have tightened the nut in the transmision then you might need to adjust the cable again. On my C27 I have just barely enough through on the cable to get good reverse engagement. You want to adjust the cable so it just barely will go into the forward detent. Thus you have as much reverse through as possible. Even then you will have to hold the shift lever in reverse since there is no detent.Hope this helpsJohn

 

[don]

reverse gear

I don't think you should have to hold the gear lever for reverse- i don't on mine.

 

[Ian]

I've been there!

I honestly feel your pain. It only took me two years to finally figure out why similar situations happened to me. I have a 77 C-30 with tha A-4 so here's what I know:You may have one of two possible conditions, both of which are super simple fixes.1. Cable replacement is a good thing. I replaced mine because the tranny kept geting stuck in forward and the shifter would move too freely. I noticed that a little bracket that holds the cable in position under interior cabin deck was loose. Of course it had to be modified slightly to match the new cable jacket diameter. That is what's been causing my trouble. Basically a little more tension to hold the cable jacket.2. Adjust your reversing gear. Very easy on the trusty A-4. I wont explain it here, but you should buy Moyer Marine's Atomic 4 manual, if you haven't yet. It's in there. You can sniff around his website on the forum and find the answer too. I hope you can solve this one. These two solutions usually fix that issue. I've done enough research to know.Good luck!