Boat repair help

Thursday evening I finally was able to get my wife out bass fishing for the 1st time this season. I was having some difficulty getting the shift lever out of neutral and I to either forward or reverse. Around 7 my cousin meet us at the lake and the wife went home and my cousin jumped in. After fishing the 1st spot I went to move to a different spot and the shift lever would not move out of neutral. We ended up getting back to the landing by trolling motor ( of course we were about as far away from the landing as possible. We we got home we spend some time looking at YouTube videos to see if we could find anything that would help. We found a video that looked exactly like mine setup. Just like the problem in the video – there is a disk with 3 slots. 1 for neutral, one for forward, and one for reverse. It looks like the grove for neutral is wore out wider than the others. There is a ball bearing that pops up into each grove as you shift. The ball bearing of popping up to far into the neutral grove ( I believe so anyway ) the guy in the video solved his problem by removing the ball bearing and then trimming the 2 springs under it to lessen the force that pushes the bearing into place – thus allowing the bearing to more easily retract back down when shifting. My problem is we could not figure out how to get the ball bearing and springs out. The round disk is preventing the removal. I can’t seen to figure out how to get the disk out of the way. Anyone else dealt with this issue. And have any suggestions. I could not find any replacement parts for this shift lever online. I hope I don’t have to replace the whole unit.

Here is the you tube video showing my problem

Year make and model are helpful. When fixing anything isolate the system to find where the problem actually lies. This system has 3 basic areas to start, the shifter, the cables, the outboard. Start by figuring out which system isn’t working correctly and then go from there. It may be the same issue as the video and it may not, always best to start simple and work up from there.

It is a 2001 crestliner fish hawk 1850. With a 150 Johnson. I am fairly certain the problem is within the shifter itself. Once exposed, if you manually push in the ball bearing you can shift it Into both forward and reverse. But as soon as you return it to neutral it locks back up.

Same year as my Johnsuzki. May be able to find a good deal on new controller, it was BRP then. My control is a bit sloppy and I should look at it as well.

I’ve called about 6 repair shops in the area – All are backed up till at least Late July. I may have to give this thing another shot myself. I cant believe that all of these boat repair places are backed up that far. Some of these young kids that are looking for a Job should think about going into Marine repair – seems like there is more than enough work out there.

fishthumper wrote:

I’ve called about 6 repair shops in the area – All are backed up till at least Late July. I may have to give this thing another shot myself. I cant believe that all of these boat repair places are backed up that far. Some of these young kids that are looking for a Job should think about going into Marine repair – seems like there is more than enough work out there.

Last fall when I took my boat in to get winterized, the line was at least 2 weeks to get it done. I called 2 other places in addition to the place I normally take it, and they were just as backed up.

Boat/outboard/marine mechanic or technician might be a solid career choice at the moment.

All skilled trades are short staffed, mechanic, welder, plumber, etc. Take your pic. If you are willing to not stare at a computer for 8 hours a day you can take your pic.

fishthumper wrote:

I’ve called about 6 repair shops in the area – All are backed up till at least Late July. I may have to give this thing another shot myself. I cant believe that all of these boat repair places are backed up that far. Some of these young kids that are looking for a Job should think about going into Marine repair – seems like there is more than enough work out there.

Once you get it pulled off the side it should be easy to take apart and fix. My lockers are so big it is a pain to reach the nuts to remove it.

onestout wrote:

Once you get it pulled off the side it should be easy to take apart and fix. My lockers are so big it is a pain to reach the nuts to remove it.

Getting it off the side and mostly apart was not a problem. The problem is going to be able to find a replacement part for the disk that is worn out. At this point I can not even identify the manufacture of the shift lever assm. I think it may have been a aftermarket part Crestliner was using. It doesn’t look anything kike most Johnson Shift levers I finding pictures of online. The 2nd problem we had was figuring out how to get the dish out of the way far enough to get at the ball bearing and spring under it. I’m not sure if the plate is press fit or what. Tried to Pry it slightly but it did not seem to move. If I can get at the ball bearing and spring I’d try and trim the spring like the video said. Not 100% sure if that would solve the problem or not but worth a shot. I just don’t want to get it tore apart and not be able to get it back together. I know how repair shops are not happy when someone brings them something already tore apart and then ask them to fix it. They most likely would just say we need to replace the whole Assembly.

onestout wrote:

All skilled trades are short staffed, mechanic, welder, plumber, etc. Take your pic. If you are willing to not stare at a computer for 8 hours a day you can take your pic.

That is a problem these days – Most kids want to sit at a computer in a air conditioned office and not work with their hands and get all greasy and dirty. Not that I can say I blame them. I completed 1 year of machine trade school ( 2 years of machine shop while I was in high school ) I Only needed another 9 Months at the tech school in my home town and I would of been a machinist. Lots of my friends completed that 9 Months of additional schooling and are making good money these days.

I’d opt to replace the lever completely vs the hack in the video.

Looks like a new throttle is around a couple hundred but it should last you another 20+ years. Most any brand will do.

The repair he did in the video looks easy enough, I would do that but also order a replacement for a more long term fix. Start taking it apart, taking pictures and keeping it in order. It already doesn’t work so you really can’t break it.

ClownColor wrote:

I’d opt to replace the lever completely vs the hack in the video.

Looks like a new throttle is around a couple hundred but it should last you another 20+ years. Most any brand will do.

When you say most any brand will do. Are the throttle cables universal. There is a fair amount going on behind the mounting board. Keep in mind this throttle doesn’t have a idle lever or a key switch. The key switch is at the dash. Other than what is shown in the video I can’t seem to find any other pictures that look like this throttle assembly.

fishthumper wrote:

All are backed up till at least Late July

$ talks

Pay cash, and big cash tip.
Seems to open up a slot within a day or two.