Lots of play in throttle lever before kicking in

[pdxsearay]

Friends - question from a first time boat owner.

the first 2-3 inches of a slow push in either direction of my throttle lever doesn’t do much. I have to go a little further to get it to kick in. Is this normal or do I have a cable somewhere that needs tightening or am I just not being patient enough to wait for it to hit?

 

[Dizzy]

It is pretty normal for some play. You have to “confidently” put it into gear or you may hear a grinding sound.

 

[Arminius]

http://www.clubsearay.com/index.php?threads/deep-six-shift-assist.98261/

 

[scoflaw]

Not normal, find where the slop is.

 

[El Capitan]

Depends. How old is your rig? Older throttle setups have more play than newer. I also noticed the action is different on my Alpha drive vs my BI drive.

If it was abnormal it would be a cable adjustment.

 

[pdxsearay]

Depends. How old is your rig? Older throttle setups have more play than newer. I also noticed the action is different on my Alpha drive vs my BI drive.

If it was abnormal it would be a cable adjustment.

It’s an 05 with only 100 hours. 4.3 carb with an alpha 2 drive. Is the cable adjustment on the engine side or the throttle lever side ?

 

[El Capitan]

I’m not a mechanic but for me it was in the outdrive/engine for pre Alpha drive.

 

[Arminius]

This is the shift plate on my 2003 Alpha 2 but the adjustments are carefully specified in the book with the required outcome being the centering of the lobe in the interrupt switch.
I removed a balky shift assist cylinder and was thinking the problem here might not be play but a blockage that had to be overcome.

 

[Lazy Daze]

He's a first time boater... I think he is referring to the 3" of stick travel to initially go from neutral into gear. Which, of course, is normal.

PDX, if this is the case... as was mentioned, you're also doing it too slowly. Get to that first "detent" that you feel very quickly to avoid grinding gears. With a little practice, it will become second nature. You WANT to hear a solid "clunk", not "grinding". The clunk is GOOD for the gears.

 

[pdxsearay]

I think he is referring to the 3" of stick travel to initially go from neutral into gear. Which, of course, is normal.

PDX, if this is the case... as was mentioned, you're also doing it too slowly. Get to that first "detent" that you feel very quickly to avoid grinding gears. With a little practice, it will become second nature. You WANT to hear a solid "clunk", not "grinding". The clunk is GOOD for the gears.

Correct....and thank you! Will push it faster rather than slower.