Transmission slips in forward, OK in reverse

[Paul Kennedy]

I own a 1988 Cat 30 TR with a 25hp Universal and Hurth 2:1 transmission. I recently had a lightning strike wich destroyed most of the electronics. When I picked up the boat at the marina I noticed that the boat would not engage forward gear immediately, however in a few minutes the transmission engaged OK. After sailing to my home location I experianced the same thing when I tried to motor into my slip. This only happens in forward, reverse is always OK. Could the strike have damaged any part of the transmission? Oil level and color seems to be OK. Sugestions? Comments?

 

[Dave]

Slipping Tranny

Hi Paul:To be honest, I don't have a clue about the lightning strike, but the first thing I would check is the linkage from the shift lever to the transmission. Make sure that the lever on the transmission is being moved all the way in the fwd position. You could check it while tied to the dock, by disconecting the linkage at the trans, and moving it the lever all the way fwd and see if it engages right away. If its ok by hand, adjust the linkage. If that doesn't work, I give up!Good luck, Dave

 

[Roger Noble]

Hurth slip fix

Slipping transmissions aren't rare, and can often be fixed by a procedure in the Catalina 30 Tech Talk Manual. This essential book for C-30 owners is a collection of 25 years of shared knowledge and wisdom from Mainsheet, the Catalina magazine. Once you're a member of the International Catalina 30 Association you can order the manual, and you get a subscription to Mainsheet as part of your dues. If you haven't already joined, you can find out more about the association at http://www.catalina30.com/ .Hope this helps.

 

[Chip]

slipping

Try draining the trans fluid, fill with mineral spirits. Run the engine and shift from foward to reverse until the trans stops slipping. Flush the mineral spirits out with fresh fluid several times to remove the spirits before refilling. That usually clears up the problem.

 

[Zephyrus]

Check The cable

Check the cable from the shift lever all the way to the transmission. I had an old Pontiac Firebird that lost the ground to the motor. So it would find an easy path to the chassis by way of the automatic shift cable. It would melt the plastic casing on the cable and not shift fully into gear. This of course would allow it to slip out of gear.I suppose the lightning strike could have done the same thing to the shift cable, looking for something to ground to. Can't hurt checking. It would be interesting to hear back what the out come was.