1989 carver santego 27' stern drive cables question

[animalalley]

Last year we purchased a beautiful 27 foot carver santego with twin merc.s. the prior owner had the out drives rebuilt by a marina in quincy mass but since the rebuild could not get them into gear. Yesterday I was going over the boat and found the starboard side stern drive cable disconnected from the engine and the starboard side has the pin from the canopy out of place thus blocking the shifter from moving, so I corrected both of these. It seems to shift fine now. But here is my question. I was working on it out of the water with the props raised and the engines off, should it still work OK when placed into the water with the props lowered and engines running.

Thanks

David

[tomschauer]

Theoretically, yes they should shift when lowered. I would lower them, put on some ear muffs, start and shift them before launch.

[Viper]

Being up shouldn't affect that particular system however, "working on it" is one thing, if it wasn't set up properly to begin with, there's no guaranty it will shift properly just because the cable was put back on and the shifter can be moved.

There is a process for setting up proper cable adjustment with it out of the water. Kind of hard to explain on paper. There is a happy medium between shifting properly into forward while still being able to shift properly into reverse. This is a small window of adjustment. Too much one way such as forward and you lose reverse or get a lot of gear chatter/grinding. You also need to ensure the ignition interrupt system is working properly to get it out of gear. The best way to do that is in the water as you need a load on the prop to check it properly.

Don't run the engine with the drive all the way up past the trim limit position (trailering position). This puts a heavy load on the u-joints. Always put your drive down before starting the engine.

Have you owned Merc Alpha drives before?

[animalalley]

Thanks to both of you for the replies. To answer your question this is the first Merc Alpha drives we have owned. Also is there is a good source for the process for setting up proper cable adjustment with it out of the water. A tech manual, a you tube vid, etc.?

thanks in advance

[Viper]

You should be able to find a manual on-line, I know they're out there, can't remember what number the manual is. You will have an Alpha 1 drive, not the Gen II for that vintage I believe but the setup should be the same for both.

When shifting an Alpha drive, you must shift firmly and and not slowly, don't baby it. If you baby it, it'll rattle into gear and possibly stall the engine even if it's set up properly.