Bravo ll Won't shift into forward

[RichardC]

92 Sea Ray Sundancer 290 w/7.4 Bravo ll. When taking it out for winterization last yr the marina found a 2-3" crack in the outdrive behind the propeller. They said it didn't extend into the gear box so they gave me the option of having it welded or replacing the lower unit. I choose to have it welded to get another few yrs from it. I checked the weld & it looked fine.
Took the boat for 1st trip of season today, before we left the dock I noticed the outdrive Trim wasn't working. 30 mins into the trip we stopped but when I went to put it back into forward gear, it seemed to be it responding slow, then while still at low RPM, it sounded like it dropped into gear but not thrust. I put back to neutral & tried again but it wouldn't go into forward gead. It goes into reverse & neutral just fine, just not forward. I'm not even getting the "click" or feel that its engaging at all. I checked the shifter cables and they are intact. Not sure how to tell if they're broken though. Any ideas what this could be? I'm been searching the internet for 8hrs and have plenty of clues but nothing solid. Included pic of the crack from last winter which has been welded.

 

[scoflaw]

Disconnect the lower shift cable at the engine and manually try to get it in gear. Could be a failing cable.
If that doesn't work then there is probably something up with the clutch cone.

 

[RichardC]

Mechanic came and pulled hard on shifter cable from put drive and boat went.into forward and reverse. The good news it's not the outdrive gears or coupler. He tried making adjustments but still couldnt get it to react correctly to shifting from throttle. Seems I'm going to need to replace the shifter cable.