Pop's out of gear at take off

H

headnsouth

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Joined
Apr 5, 2007
RO Number
25768
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My 98 Chaparral Mercruiser 5.7 Alpha 1 acted up over the weekend. I was cruising around at about 25 mph and all of a sudden the boat felt like it popped out of gear. Running slow isn't an issue but coming out of the hole the outdrive will pop out of gear.

Doing a quick search it appears it's a shifter cable issue, I checked the outdrive oil and its full and only oil at the bottom. Looked at the prop rubber and it looks ok although I'm not sure what a bad one looks like. :)

I'm looking for some direction at what to look at next and if it's the shifter cable which one is it? The one from the shifter to the engine or engine to the outdrive?
Can I adjust it?
 
Not to say it isn't coming "out of gear" but that's pretty hard for an Alpha to do once it's IN gear. Sounds like a spun hub to me, and you can't tell by inspection. Try/Borrow another prop or take yours off and to a shop.
That's for a rubber-hubbed prop. They have to have the hub replaced by a shop with a press. In 1998 you're likely to have a Flo-Torq setup, with a hard plastic insert. Those too can fail but you can dismantle, inspect, replace, all with your own hand tools.
41FFKP6mtCL._AA160_.jpg

The black piece is the "hub" that replaces the rubber version. The rest of the pieces are in case you drop something overboard. I suggest buying the whole kit once, then just the plastic part. Once I haven't lost pieces overboard...
 
Been a while since I ran into this possible cause. I believe its for forward gear. There's pocket in the drive that makes room for the lower shift cable when fully extended into gear. Whether it's for forward or reverse is the question. Anyway, the pocket can fill with debris which prevents going fully into gear. The pocket is on the starboard side of the drive about same height as the bottom of the bell housing where the cable end extends from the housing.
 
Sounds like a spun prop to me. With the boat out of the water and in gear, see if you can turn prop by hand. If you can, it is probably spun. To verify, see if you can borrow one from boat shop or other boater and repeat. A spun prop is fairy inexpensive to get fixed. Let us know how you make out.
Jim
 
Thanks, i have a spare prop and hub. I'll swap it out and see what it does.
I did try to spin it by hand and was unable.
 
I'm out on the lake and have been running the boat as I would normally and the boat is running fine. ? Wth?
 
Is this with the spare prop? If so I guess you got your answer.
 
The most noticeable thing that happens when the prop hub or coupler spins is the engine revs up cuz the prop is no longer grabbing water.
 
If the rubber hub of the coupler has spun, it will smoke rubber smell. If the aluminum splines has spun, no smell. Prop hub will often show signs of spun hub. Crinkled or little rubber balls around the hub.
 
A spun hub once spuovn will not let you go much above idle.Rubber hub will either sink or extend in the center. Flip prop over, if you cannot put forward brass spacer in rear of prop, hub is spun.
 
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