imq707s

Well I thought I had eveything adjusted correctly, but I was wrong. I've got an alpha drive on the back of my 1985 21' scarab with a 350. I was having problems shifting to forward, neutral, and reverse. I found out that the ignition cut out was not adjusted properly. I set it up just like the manual says and then towed my boat back to the lake. Well right off the trailer I noticed that it would shift now, but you could definitly tell that the motor would alsmost die before it would shift. And sometimes when trying to go from neutral to reverse, it would die before it would pop into reverse. What should I try next, are the cables way out of adjustment or what? The boat idles at around 900rpm in neutral.

formula233

Your Idle sounds too high to me. I'd try it at 750 rmp and see if it shifted then. Other than the high idle RPM my main guess is that it's time for a gimbal shift cable. If there is some corosion in the cable it will stall the motor. I'd suggest taking the drive off and making an inspection of all the bellows and then disconnect the cable from the shift plate and make sure it moves freely by hand. If not, replace it.

Tinkerer

Is the problem when shifting into gear as well as out of gear?
If the problem is in both directions than you have a problem with the cable that goes to the drive or with the drive itself. The engine momentary kill switch should only drop 1 or 2 cylinder firings when coming out of gear. No faulter is needed when going into gear. The engine faulter should be almost not noticable when coming out of gear.

imq707s

When I'm in neutral in pops right into forward with no problems at all, but when I pull it back into neutral that's when the motor cuts for a second and almost dies, but it goes into nuetral. Then if I try to go from neutral to reverse it will cut the motor and alsmost die, but it goes into reverse. It will also cut the motor going from reverse back into neutral. I think that a cable may need to be lubed up, it kind of seems like a cable is sticking and not moving freely Is there any way to oil the shift cables?

puder

IMQ
i ghad eth same damn problem with my old alpha. You just haev to keep messing with that danm interuptor switch it is a major pain in the ass to get it adjusted properly. Get anoteh rperson to shift for you and you stand in yoru engein bay messing with teh switch. i eventually had to bend mine to adjust it. I actually put a curve into it and made sure it was dead center in eth valve of teh bracket. The longer throw triggered at the right time seemed to help. Didn;t shift as smooth as it might haev could but a rough shift is bette rthan constant stalling while trying to dock.

imq707s

Do you think it would help to adjust the ignition cut out switch so that it takes more movment (pressure) to activate it? That would create more pressure on the cable right before the ignition cuts and it should make it pop into gear faster, right? I've got it set up now so that as soon as that little wheel start to move out of the "V" in the linkage, the ignition cuts.

puder

do aserach of teh archieves there are several threads on it. Tehre wa slink postyed to asiet that explained exactly how to adjust it and how moving it to certain positions in the valley would adjust the shift point. I woudl try bending it out some. so it doesn't cut as early. But liek i said teh best thing to do it just messs with it until its right. Get soem needle nose pliers and bend it just asmidge ata time until it shifts right. I know i found shifting from forward to reverse a stop in uetral for afew seconds woudl help. And if it keep staling shift in to neutral rev it up a bit and rop it into reverse.Not eth greatest for the gears but if you have to dock and it stall otherwise that will do the trick.

Tinkerer

If it is trying to kill going into any gear the problem is'nt with the switch it is most likely with the cable. The switch is only for coming out of gear nothing else. You can pull the drive and pull the inner cable out . you have to remove the linkage at the switch end. loosen the two square little bolts in the black plastic end and pull it off. you may have trouble getting the cable back in because the pinch bolts will distort the cable. Best thing to do is to just replace the cable since you will do half the job just lubbing it.

formula233

the interupt switch function's function is to unload the torque on the shift dog allowing the drive to come out of gear. The alpha's shift dog is beveled to help it ingage but once it engages the load has to be removed to release it. If you can hear the motor try to stall going into gear the cable has too much resistance in it. The cable going bad is also an indicator of possible seal proublems in the gimbal/drive mating area. A sealing proublem in the gimbal area, if not taken care of imediately leads to much higher cost repairs. Pulling the drive off for an inspection involves a $5 gasket replacement. That alone is inexpensive insurance for preventing break downs. Friends of mine take theirs of in the fall to make sure there isn't any water sitting in the bellows ad store the drive for the winter. Then re-install it every spring. There is a plastic storage cover on the market they install on their gimbal.

imq707s

I just had the drive off a few months ago to replace the gimbal bearing. The drive shaft bellow and shift cable bellow looked ok. It was a pain getting the drive back on. I might try oiling the cable and see if that helps before I go and pull the drive off again. Can I buy a special cable oiler? Thanks everyone for the help.