Alpha One Gen 2 gear shift grind

[1132MM]

I have 2004 twin Mercruiser Alpha One Gen 2 out drives. I adjusted the shifter cables according to Mercruiser specs. When I tested each outdrive with the motor running I heard a slight grind as I was putting it into gear. Is this normal? I don’t remember hearing this grind before.

 

[DWABoat]

Does it lock in fully when you complete the shift?
Are you moving the shifter smartly into the forward or reverse position?
You probably know this, but just checking: If you move slowly, you are not helping it at all. The dog merges the gears in the lower unit of our Alphas. If you move the shifting slowly, the dog pushes the gears slowly together, so you get them chipping away at each other until the mesh is made. Better to move that few inches on the shifter from neutral quickly until the gears engage, then slow down your throttle increase.

 

[1132MM]

Thanks for the quick response. I think I’m moving the gear shift too slow. I will try it again tomorrow.

 

[Brite Idea]

On those Alpha's you have to bump them into gear not slide the shifter. It's a matter of getting used to it.

 

[Havana Shamrock]

Glad you bright this up mine does the same thing I was thinking I needed to adjust the shift cable. I’ll move faster as stated.

 

[BillK2632]

Shifting an Alpha smoothly is almost an "art". You have to be decisive and somewhat quick when shifting an Alpha - if you try to just ease it into gear will not engage completely and it will chatter. If you have ever missed a gear in a stick shift car, it is essentially the same thing. Nothing wrong, that's just the way an Alpha is designed - its a very old, but solid gear design. On the other side, when coming out of gear, an Alpha has an ignition interrupt that basically stalls the engine for a second to take load off the gears so you can shift from F or R to N. No clutches or anything like that to wear out, but the consolation is it will never shift like a Bravo or a VP Duoprop.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Adding the info about shifting... if you want to double check if the cable adjustment is correct, here's a low-brow way of doing it:

-- Spin the prop by hand when in neutral. You should feel/hear no clicking.
-- Put in Fwd. Spin prop - in one direction, you will feel/hear clicking. Take note of the intensity. Now, put in Rev and spin the prop the other way. Ideally you want the "intensity" to be the same in both directions, telling that when in neutral, you're right in the middle of fwd/rev. Readjust the barrell adjuster if needed.

 

[Thornton69]

Low idle speed is also important for smooth shifting.

 

[1132MM]

This is a good video that will help.

 

[1132MM]

And another one. The cable adjustment is about 8 minutes into this video.