shifting for outboards

[CAVU]

Pete,
Thanks for that info. I normally only do that while trolling so I hope I am ok.

Steve,
The Hondas use a separate lever to rev the engine while the shift lever stays in neutral. My old OMC outboard had the system you have on the Yamaha.

[Sea Wolf]

[Captains Cat]

I hate it when those clay pigeons riot! Gun em down.

Should be as safe as anywhere you might usually do it. I'm sure you know all the safety rules.... don't shoot yourself in the foot though or a hole through the bottom of the boat.... you might make sure your bilge pump is up and running and that you've got something to fill a big hole with just in case...

Charlie

[Les Lampman]

Hi All,

There is no clutch in the outboard's lower unit. As shown in the photo Joe posted shifting is accomplished by moving a "shift dog" (in the middle between the gears) into and out of engagement with spinning forward or reverse gear. There are teeth (lugs) on each end of the shift dog that engage lugs on the inside of the gears. When you move the shift lever you're sliding the shift dog into position. If you go slowly and get a tick, tick, tick or grinding what you're hearing is the oppossing tips of the lugs hitting each other (that is the lugs on the shift dog tipping the lugs on the spinning gear). That's not good. What you want is a satisfying "clunk" (or nothing), just move the lever without hesitation from neutral to forward (or reverse) so that the lugs on the shift dog and those on the gears engage fully all at once; they're designd to take that load.

You will not damage anything by shifting an engine that isn't running UNLESS...the lugs on the shift dog and those on the inside of the forward or reverse gear are exaclty lined up. Then the shift dog can not slide into position. When this happens the shift lever moves normally for about 1/2 its normal engagement swing then stops; pushing beyond this point only serves to damage the control cable and/or the remote controller (it would be all but impossble to damage the lower unit). So, if your engine isn't running and you're able to shift with only normal resistance it's fine; if you get part way through the shift and it seems to "bind"...stop! Go back and turn the prop by hand a bit to move the lugs out of alignment.

Sorry to hijack the clay pigeon discussion!

[Captains Cat]

Better a wise old owl (well a wise young owl, your Dad is the wise old one) than a clay pigeon any day... As usual, a great explanation, thanks. Have things slowed down in this wx? That seems to be the only time we hear from you, anytime is welcome!

Charlie

[Sea Wolf]

Yes, Les, good explanation!

If the weather stays bad up there, send some o' them skeet down here on a migration run. We're fresh out, and I'm loadin' up just now!

Joe.

[james]

Thanks all!

I knew I could count on this group to help me out with my question.


James

[Larry H]

Brats,

If you want to keep your o/b mechanic working and your shop bills high, then shift s-l-o-w.

If you want the longest gearbox life, then 'snap shift' the lever from neutral into gear.

And do turn the prop if shifting when the motor is not running. Otherwise you could break stuff.

"From my experience as an outboard mechanic."

[Butch]

Les' shifting slow (grinding) versus shifting fast (clunk) reminded me of the analysis my brothers and I did when I came up with a way to enjoy the 4 of July in the hills of West Virginia with "reusable" home made fireworks. Yep they were reusable... up to 10 BIG BOOMS with one charge!
I was 12 years old (early 60's) and both brothers younger by 1 and 2 years respectively and heck... we knew nothing about the ATFB nor at this point in our excitement we really did not give a rat's T hinny boo about anything but our initial test firing. For obvious reasons I won't go into how we did it only to show the analogy of shifting clunk versus grinding.

The materials we used were an empty baking powder can that resembled a tall quart paint can, about 2 ounces of water, and a "secret ingredient" readily obtainable in the coal mining country we grew up in. Ya see we punched a hole about the size of a #2 pencil in the center of the bottom of the can, added the 2 oz. of water and the "secret ingredient" then quickly installed the lid on tight . When we heard the whistle of escaping gas from the hole in the can... we would light it off. BOOM
The lid would fly off about 75' and on our first shot the can kicked back about 3' spilling the "brew". Not good as we had a limited supply, about 5 pounds, of the "secret ingredient". That would be the grind side of the shifting analogy.
From the clunk side of the shifting analogy it was clear we had to hold the can down when we lit her off. As usual we came up with a solution using what limited resources we had at the time... I decided I'd put my foot on the can and then let my brothers take turns going after the lid and liting it off. We could get at least 10 or 15 BIG BOOMS before we'd have to reload with the water and the "secret ingredient".

There was a down side to putting foot on the can when the boys fired off a shot... that is, have you ever hit something with a baseball bat so hard that it stung your arms real bad all the way to the shoulderand they felt like they were going to fall off? Now.... picture the same pain multiplied at least 5 fold in the leg of the foot holding the can down... OUCH BIG TIME!

I am not stupid ... [u][i][b]I only did that one time [/b][/i][/u] . After that I had sense enough to wear shoes while holding it down .lesson #1

Butch

PS... we gave it up after about 3 days of blasting. Had to.... my youngest brother, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, lit one off too late after the whistling began and flame shot out the hole in the can for about 3 feet. Lesson #2, when lighting off a homemade reusable fireworks device... light it off from the side NOT and I repeat NOT from behind the whistling hole. That 3' flame singed the hair off my brother's arm, one eye brow, and about 1/4 of his already buzz cut head. Needless to say... mom noticed.

[Sea Wolf]

Butch-

Millions of kids have done this, too!

Two words: calcium carbide (it's what's was used in old-time miner's lamps and produces acetelene gas when reacted with water)

LINK

Joe.

[Butch]

Joe... you are close but... it wasn't calcium carbide. This is way before RCRA and mine strip operators routinely threw this stuff in drums to be hauled to a and landfill. My stuff came from a open air strip mine operation and used as an absorbant, besides it would have been hard for me and my brothers to get our hands on carbide. The deep mines in our area kept the carbide under lock and key along with the real expoosives. Actually.. we learned about it by watching miners play practical jokes on each other. The odor the explosions gave off was a strong rotten egg stink.

I guess you can say me and my brothers were 'dump rats'. We did not have a whole lot growing up and we had to be creative when it came to toys to play with.

[lloyds]

We always played with the carbide. Carbide cannons were great for the noise, and scaring geese and pests out of the fields. Some guys in my dorm took a popcicle wrapper and put a few ounces in it and flushed it down the toilet. Not a great idea. Knocked the urinals off the wall.

[Sea Wolf]

Butch-

We (at 10 years old) were able to buy the calcium carbide we used at a hardware store in Redding that sold it to the local gold miners who lived up in the hills!

Joe.

[Butch]

Joe I had no idea carbide was ever sold in hardware stores... we kids lived too far back in our own family 'holler' to get to a hardware store anyway. The only store we kids had any access to was a little one man grocery store... it wasn't even big enough to be a convenience store by today's standards and it was more than a mile walk and it was on our way to and from school. The owner would open his store at 6AM so we kids would have someplace warm to wait on the school bus.

Back then a loaf of bread was $0.05, penny candy was actually a penny, gasoline was a whopping $0.28 a gallon, and a Ford T Bird was a fortune back then at $5000.00. The way me and my brothers got spending money was finding soda bottles to turn in for $0.03 a piece and the worst job was cleaning my Great Aunt's chicken coop. In July and August that was the worst stink'n job ever... but it paid good money... a quarter AND a banana for an afternoon's work.

Times change, however, you can still learn something new. I had not idea you could get carbide from a hardware store.

Have a great day all!

[Sea Wolf]

Butch-

I think the hardware store had catered to miners in the past and still had some supplies and mining tools, etc.

We wandered the hills around Shasta Lake to visit all the old gold mines and went though the abandoned miner's shacks out of curiousity. Lotsa' booze bottles, tin cans, junk, and even left over dynamite! Most of the red sticks were outdated, and had been infused with water over time and would only burn if you really go 'em dried out and lit 'em up good. No blasting caps, fortunately! It's a wonder we lived through it all to reach adulthood, whatever that is! Joe.