Transmission stuck in Neutral

[Pat]

Left the dock today; a beautiful day, then motored out, raised the sail and
suddenly my transmission in the 272 LE would not shift....would merely slide easily from forward to reverse...so we stayed in forward and called to shore on the VHF and motored in very slowly. Our neighbors were there, heard our message and met us at the slip....I'm not certain what to look for. Took the compass off, looked at the engine, but I'm not even certain what to look for or where. I looked at the transmission but could see nothing wrong....I've probably ignored this important piece of equipment on our boat. Any ideas
what may have slipped or become disconnected? Thanks so much, Patrick

 

[Pat]

what I say above is not totally correct...the boat was stuck in forward gear...I could slow it down....and I killed the engine just before coming back into the slip....the gearshift handle moves up and down but does not go out of forward...
Pat

 

[Scotty C-M]

Is the linkage connected? Have someone move the lever back and forth. Does it move at the transmission?

 

[Stu Jackson]

When was the last time you changed the transmission fluid?

Good luck.

 

[Pat]

Never. We bought the boat brand new in 87...I've checked the fluid level, but never changed it and quite honestly, it's been 6 or 7 years since I checked it....will do so this morning...may be too late to be meaningful. Thanks for your thoughts. Patrick

 

[Pat]

We've been in a terrible drought and the boat has not been in the water until 2 1/2 months ago...since 1987, we have never had a serious problem with this boat....it has
been a nearly flawless product (batteries excpted).....I've checked and changed the oil
religiously, but not the transmission....The level has always been fine; and the color good, but I am guilty of not checking it since the issues with the drought arose and we had to empty our slips...now, due to a miracle we have lots of water....after two years
of zero....our next door neighbor with the Erickson 32 has volunteered to try and help us this morning. I will add more later and read any posts/suggestions...Thank you for
your thoughts. Patrick

 

[jibes138]

If stuck in forward it sounds like the cable broke or where the cable is connected came apart. Where it connects to the shifter it is threaded into an end piece and a jam nut locks it. There is also a cotter pin to hold that piece to the lever. If the cotter pin broke it could slip apart or the cable might have unscrewed from the fitting. Same thing on the other end of the cable. See if you can shift the tranny by hand by rotating the shift lever on the side of the tranny. Another possibility is the cable corroded and broke inside the sheath. If the lever is moving up and down but nothing at the tranny and you aren't feeling resistance in the shift lever then I'd assume the cable is disconnected or broken.

 

[Mickstr]

Check fluid first. If low, drain and fill, and add some Marvel Mystery Oil to it. Then try and manipulate the tranny linkage manually right at the transmission (while securely tied in the slip with spring lines).

If the tranny doesn't shift while manually moving the lever, you have a problem within the transmission.

If the transmission shifts well, try again from the cockpit. If the tranny shifts well now, it could've been low fluid. Run it a few hours and drain refill again, then check it periodically..

If the tranny shifts well from the unit but not from the cockpit, it's linkage. Poke around and you'll find it.

 

[Pat]

Thank you to everyone! Jibes, the cable is broken....three of us checked it out today.
It was separated at the upper end of the system in the pedestal at the point where it is swedged on to the upper end piece. A great person at Edson helped us very much today and I will thank him more in the next post....We called him 4 times today and each time he gave us great information that pin-pointed the issue....there is a small nut on the aft facing radius of the pedestal and we kept wondering what it was...turns out
it holds a plastic sleeve in place that immobilizes the cables (throttle and transmission).
both were in place at that point, but the disconnect was where the plastic conduit is connected to a bronze connector at the top of the pedestal, below the compass. I'm dumfounded that I cannot remember the fellows name, but I'll be back at the boat
tomorrow and I want to give him a lot of credit for sticking with us this afternoon from
New Bedford, Massachusetts. What a great service dept!....Thanks to everyone for their suggestions....the transmission fluid level was good and the color good despite my lack of attention. Whew! Now, figuring out how to get all this back together will become the issue...... Patrick in Wichita

 

[Scotty C-M]

Pat, Yes, check the transmission level. If you need to fill it, look in the wiki for instructions on using a turkey baster!! It will save you mucho time. Check the linkage (like I said in my earllier post) because that is really easy to do. Broken or disconnected cables are very common, and very easy to fix. Good Luck! EDIT: I just realized that this is a different forum! Opps! The turkey baster method is found on the Catalina 34 website. Look for it there!! The basic idea is to use a turkey baster, with a hose firmly attached, to suck out the tranny fluid, and to put the new fluid in. It works really well.

 

[jibes138]

I replaced my cables this year. I had to loosen the steering cables at the quadrant to get enough room to snake that cable clamp past the sprocket. It is easy to do but a little time consuming to pull the plastic liner out of the cockpit locker. Good luck with your fix. You can get the cables most anywhere, The length should be marked on them, I couldn't find the mark until I had it out but look closely, otherwise tape a piece of string along its' length and measure the length of the string plus the height of the pedestal. The cables are in 1 foot increments so you don't have to be exact in the measurement. Cables were only about 35 bucks or so. Replace them both while you are in there it is cheap insurance and since they last a long time worth it.

 

[Pat]

Jibes, I ended up ordering them from Reid Austin at Edson. He's shipping two different lengths but only one will be needed and I am to return the other one. I'm not certain why I need to serpentine this cable thru the lazarette instead of just dropping down from the pedestal into the quarter berth then heading to the bulkhead separating the lazarette from the quarterberth....would be about 3 feet less cable....this site is a God-send as I'm not a mechanic...I'll keep the site informed. Patrick

 

[jibes138]

Pat, the cables are both pushing and pulling and as such they have a minimum bend radius allowed or there will be too much side loading and friction on the cable. It will be like a saw sawing through the outer sheath. I think the minimum radius is like 8 inches or something. That's probably why the long run, in a smaller boat going straight down and then right to the motor would probably be a very sharp kink right at the floor level of the pedestal.

 

[Pat]

We got the transmission/shifting cable replaced today...took about 2 or 2-1/2 hours...& it was very difficult to navigate the cables w/endpieces around the sprocket, etc. & linserted into the white clip.....BUT, we did it....took three of us..mostly two other slip neighbors plus myself....my job was just to keep everything light hearted and pass tools. Our cable on the 272 as installed at the factory was 10 ft. 4 inches in lengtht, not incluiding the bronze end pieces....Edson sent me both a 6 and 8 ft. length so we had to come up with a different route for the cable and so we bypassed the lazarette, instead attaching the cable to the quarterberth side of the bulkhead....I'm sending some
pizzas to Reid Austin tomorrow to say thank you...He had even given me his cell phone number in case we needed to call him today...Edson should reward this fellow. Patrick

 

[Pat]

Finally had an opportunity to take the boat out for a sail...and what a beautiful day here.. Winds sustained perhaps 12 -14 knots w/ a few gusts to 23 according to the nearest weather bureau broadcast on vhf....the new gearshift cable is superb...works extremely smoothly...I think we figured out how the cable was de-sweaged in the steering column...that would be the new battery may have dropped into the lazarette right on the cable thereby pulling the cable out of the crimped swedge fitting in the steering column. At any rate it is a smooth shifter now....thanks for all the help. Patrick