shifting for outboards

J

james

New member
This being my first outboard,( had I/O's before) what is the consensus on shifting in and out of gear. Slow grindy or fast and thud?


James
 
Ouch :shock: Either one hurts to think about. Slow and "grindy" isn't good but if you do it fast, and it goes "thud", I'd check your idle speed. It might make a little noise but shouldn't make much.

Charlie
 
When I first got our 22' I began a practice of shifting gently and was told (by no less an authority than Les) to just go from neutral to gear quickly
 
"crisp" movement into gear. No grinding. Can't bear the thought of the grinding. Reminds me of my first dentist when I was a kid, had a foot operated treadle. Excruciating. And no, that wasn't before fire was invented.
 
Brisk is good. So is crisp. Another is deliberate. Grinding is bad. One note, shifting into gear(F or R) shouldn't be done if the motor isn't running unless you manually rotate the prop.
 
Pete,
I had not heard this before. What problems can it cause? I have twin 40HP Hondas and I often shift the inside throttle forward out of the way when I am trolling with one engine. This allows me to sit sideways and watch the downriggers without bumping the trim switch on the inside throttle. I hope I haven't been causing any harm to the engine? Any thoughts on this.
 
Ken, I'm not familiar with all controls but my Yamaha shift controls have a 'gear lockout' button to disable the gearshift so that you can work the throttle out of gear. I use that to keep the port shifter out of the way while at anchor (engine off).
 
I came across the answer to this on some site a few weeks back. Apparently if you shift slowly and when you hear the clicking noise you are wearing some part. It seems that it would be some type of clutch.

So like everyone else I now shift in and out of gear crisply.

Steve
 
I replaced the shift dogs in an old Johnson 18 hp outboard years ago. Was a lot of fun!!! If you want to read about how shift dogs work and go through their replacement procedure, read down into the article in this LINK.

Pandora's Box of Shift Dogs:

image011.jpg

Joe.
 
Pete,
Thanks for that info. I normally only do that while trolling so I hope I am ok.

Steve,
The Hondas use a separate lever to rev the engine while the shift lever stays in neutral. My old OMC outboard had the system you have on the Yamaha.
 
tpbrady":21ozkamy said:
I go fast and don't hear anything.

By the way Joe, what haven't you done on a boat?
Click to expand...

Tom-

You probably don't really don't want to know!

I'm wanting to do some skeet shooting off the back of my C-Dory with some clay pigeons and my 12 gauge riot gun (just for kicks). Think it's safe?

See Ya' in Seattle!

Joe.
 
I hate it when those clay pigeons riot! :? Gun em down. :thup

Should be as safe as anywhere you might usually do it. I'm sure you know all the safety rules.... don't shoot yourself in the foot though or a hole through the bottom of the boat.... you might make sure your bilge pump is up and running and that you've got something to fill a big hole with just in case... :cry

Charlie
 
Hi All,

There is no clutch in the outboard's lower unit. As shown in the photo Joe posted shifting is accomplished by moving a "shift dog" (in the middle between the gears) into and out of engagement with spinning forward or reverse gear. There are teeth (lugs) on each end of the shift dog that engage lugs on the inside of the gears. When you move the shift lever you're sliding the shift dog into position. If you go slowly and get a tick, tick, tick or grinding what you're hearing is the oppossing tips of the lugs hitting each other (that is the lugs on the shift dog tipping the lugs on the spinning gear). That's not good. What you want is a satisfying "clunk" (or nothing), just move the lever without hesitation from neutral to forward (or reverse) so that the lugs on the shift dog and those on the gears engage fully all at once; they're designd to take that load.

You will not damage anything by shifting an engine that isn't running UNLESS...the lugs on the shift dog and those on the inside of the forward or reverse gear are exaclty lined up. Then the shift dog can not slide into position. When this happens the shift lever moves normally for about 1/2 its normal engagement swing then stops; pushing beyond this point only serves to damage the control cable and/or the remote controller (it would be all but impossble to damage the lower unit). So, if your engine isn't running and you're able to shift with only normal resistance it's fine; if you get part way through the shift and it seems to "bind"...stop! Go back and turn the prop by hand a bit to move the lugs out of alignment.

Sorry to hijack the clay pigeon discussion! :lol:
 
Better a wise old owl (well a wise young owl, your Dad is the wise old one) than a clay pigeon any day... As usual, a great explanation, thanks. Have things slowed down in this wx? That seems to be the only time we hear from you, anytime is welcome!

Charlie
 
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