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Anyone ever see this?



Note the left hand side of the football shaped toggle piece is broken, allowing the shift cable arm attachment to fall off. Boat runs great, just doesn't go anywhere. At first glance, I thought I would be able to undo the bolt in the center and turn the piece around since there is another hole drilled in the opposite side. My mechanic says it is not that simple. Fortunately, he has the part in stock, but the question is getting time to get to it. He doesn't have any room in his shop, so he'll complete the repair outside. I don't have a problem with that other than the only day we don't have rain forecasted this week is when I am out of town. I'll figure something out. I guess that's what I get for letting my old man take my "new to me" boat to the LOTO for a week. I don't think he did anything to cause this, he just happened to be behind the wheel when it shot craps.

So back to my original question. . . Anyone ever see this happen before? Any idea what could have caused it to fail? I can manually flip the toggle with relative ease, and the prop behaves as normal when in the forward/neutral/reverse positions. Hopefully that means nothing is tore up internally. I keep looking at this piece wondering how it failed. I would think the $0.02 kotter pin used to hold the shift cable arm to this piece would have failed first if there was any bindage going on. I just don't want to put this back together only to have a new one fail after another 15 hours.

Thanks,

Jay

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2005 FW Horizon 250
8.1L VP DP

No, I've never ween that on the drives I've had. The bronze part bears up directly against the stainless shift rod. There is no bush. Lack of lubrication would cause the bronze to wear until eventually what was left would just break off. I always make sure all the mating parts in the shift linkages are well greased with waterproof grease before each season. It's probably worthwhile checking the cubenut on the end of the shift cable as that's also bronze.

Until you can get it fixed properly, to get you mobile again it could be possible to make a temporary repair by making up a stainless plate that could be screwed onto the original lever.

Graham

Thanks, Graham. I'll be sure to lubricate this going forward. The weather is supposed to hold off today, so I'm going to drag it to my mechanic this morning so hopefully he can work it in. I'll mention for him to inspect the cubenut as well and replace if showing signs of wear. Finally, good idea on the stainless plate to get me back up and moving. That should be simple enough, although I'm hoping not to have to implement it.

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2005 FW Horizon 250
8.1L VP DP

Well the boat is back home, but have not tested on the water yet. Hopefully this weekend to give it the full run through. My mechanic (who I fully trust) indicates it's ready to go, but still can't explain why it broke. He did say it was bent, which I thought it looked bent before I took it in but it was hard to see for sure. He thought this compromised the structural integrity of the bronze, allowing it to break easier. So was it a bad casting, or did someone get a little too aggressive while trying to make an adjustment/hook up the stainless shift arm. My guess is the latter, but I will never know for sure. He also said these parts aren't designed for greasing, but agreed it sure can't hurt. I know it was a small issue, but I don't like not knowing where the gremlins came from so I can prevent them from returning. I guess that's part of the price of buying a used boat.

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2005 FW Horizon 250
8.1L VP DP

I would say, any boat.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic