TOPIC: 40hp Gale Finally Hit the Water and No Forward

I finally got the '63 40hp Gale long shaft to the lake. I mounted it on my '68 Glastron 156 Aqualift. It ran good in the barrel at the garage, forward, neutral, reverse, no problem. I drove the 20 miles to the lake, put her in, started right up, but with the shifter in 'N' the L/U was in Reverse and had no Forward...??? I pulled her out and drove back to the drawing board... I discovered that the shift linkage had somehow pulled apart at the brass connector. So I put it back together with a new 1/4" NF bolt and tightened it up. Took it back to the lake and seemed to be working fine...except, when I was taking her up to WOT, it like hit 'neutral', I pulled back on the throttle, and tried it again... I was thinking maybe the center hub was gone in the prop...??? It ran ok at low speed, but when I tried to get her up on plane she 'free-wheeled'. I cruised around at low speed and then very gradually took her up to top end, seemed to go ok until I hit a wake, then it free-wheeled again... Is it the prop or the L/U slipping out of gear? The F-N-R seemed to function fine at docking, shifting back and forth, so I believe linkage is still connected...Thanks for any help

Your prop has a bad rubber hub and it's slipping under high power. Time for a new prop!

Cheers......ed

Thanks Ed, I will try it out again with a prop from another motor...can the prop be 're-hubbed'?

Well I changed props, took it out again yesterday. It worked fine, until I got about as far away from the launch as possible...it hit neutral again at WOT. I shut it down, and it wouldn't go into forward, but had reverse... Luckily I had brought my 3hp Johnson with me, it was a long run into a 20 knot wind but finally made it back to the launch. I suspect the linkage has separated again on the Gale, I'll get on it it today... The good news is, on the way home, I picked up a 1956 30hp Lark Long shaft...I now have '54, '55, '56, '57, '58, '59 & '63 BigTwins

Yep, the shift linkage pulled apart again, the bolt in the coupler was tight. Does anyone have any ideas on wether the lower end could be popping out of gear, thus pulling the linkage apart, or could the cable be pulling the linkage apart...??? I'm inclined to think that the brass 5" extension coupler is worn and should be replaced...

55bigtwin,

IF it was my OB, I would disassemble, inspect, re-lubricate and replace any parts that even looked "suspect". My GUESS is that there is something just plain worn-out in the linkage itself BUT there may be a "problem" in the "bottom end". - BigTwins are about as simple as outboard motors get, SIERRA parts are downright cheap & they aren't complicated.
(So cheap in fact that I always buy new points, plugs, condensors, wiring & water-pump impeller for EVERY OMC, before I do anything else.)

BTW, if you don't have a SELOC #1300 manual, you would do well to buy one. - I paid less than 10 bucks for mine, used, on amazon.com.

yours, satx

The bolts in the brass coupling must be installed after the notch lines up with the hole.---Properly assembled the shift rod does not slip out.

Well I know, I put it back together right this time, I will try it one more time, if it ever stops raining...we've got flood warnings now...Thanks for the advice...

Finally got it out again yesterday, yep, popped out of gear again at WOT, and pulled the linkage connector apart again... Next, I will have to disconnect the remote shift cable, and try running it like that, to see what happens. My theory is that maybe the shift cable is preventing full engagement, thus allowing the gears to pop out at WOT... If so I may have to look for other cables, as the adjuster threads are seized... So much for my low budget project...