1988 Santego 30 - Throttle position to engage reverse is very very far back

[theorifice]

The throttle position to engage reverse appears to be very far into the travel. It has made getting into reverse with small amount of thrust difficult. I don't have a picture but the position for engagement is somewhere near 60 deg of the travel.

Is this normal for Mercruiser Alpha I/O drives in the 1988 Santego 30? If not, what would I start looking into adjusting? Is this a cable age, cable maintenance issue? Is it reasonable to start looking into this issue while boat is still in the water?

[Viper]

Your lower cable adjustment could be off or you may need a new lower cable which is pretty common on Merc sterndrives. I'd try going through the process of a proper adjustment first and if that doesn't solve the problem then it'll likely be a hall out, drive removal, and cable replacement. You don't want to operate this way for too long as shift gears at higher than idle will shorten the life of the drive's clutch if not break it. I'm sure there are YouTube videos on Alpha cable adjustment.

Does the drive go into forward at idle or do you have to advance the shifter above idle before it will engage also?

[theorifice]

Forward seems to react as expected with regards to position. The action feels really stiff though. If I pull out the levers (to adjust throttle while in neutral) the levers feel smooth in both forward reverse directions.

[uchu]

I went through this with our Santego last season. Very stiff cables (possibly the original ones!). Cables were changed and adjusted and it made a ton of difference. I have to say, though, that reverse feels a bit longer in the controller levers to kick in, compared to forward, but definitely not 60 degrees. I'd say, in my case, somewhere between 30 and 45 degrees.

[theorifice]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you change the lower cables too or just the run from the controller to the transmission?

[uchu]

Source of the post Thanks for sharing your experience. Did you change the lower cables too or just the run from the controller to the transmission?

Yeah, both lower and upper cables were changed.