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I have recently swapped controls from a Morse MT2 top mount to a Yamaha belive it is a 703 sidemount. THe engine is a 1991 Yamaha 90hp precision blend, when I connected the control cables to the Yamaha control box I noticed it shifed from neutral to forward and reverse harder than normal.

Is this/could this hard shifting be a result of poorly adjusted cable ends?

Next issue is when throttle is in the full throttle position then brought back to neutral the timing arm on the engine never fully returns to the rubber stop. It gets within a 1/4" maybe a little less. I have not run the engine to see the effect of this, as I want to sort our the hard shifting first. Is the 1/4" enough to mess with engines running performance? Could this too be a result of poor cable adjustment?

When cables are properly adjusted, should the cable ends be adjusted similar on each end of the same cable? Or can one be all the way on, the other all the way to the end? Any thoughts?

I hope to be able to sort this out myself and not involve any Yamaha dealers... but we'll see. Naturally I work at a boatyard, however we do not do any outboard servicing!!!

Here in Maine we are itching to get in the water, and other than these issues I am real close!

Happy boating and thanks for the help,

Dana

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Dana,

Are the cables your attempting to use original to the boat? If they are used they may not have been lubricated in the past. I would first disconnect the cables, stretch them out as straight as possible and attempt to move them by hand. They should slide quite easily. If they don't feel smooth you may have to try lubricating them. Every three years or so I use a small funnel and hose combination clamped to the end of the throttle cable. I put power steering fluid in the funnel and allow it to sit for a few weeks. The fluid usually finds it's way down inside the cable and does a great job keeping my cables moving nice and easy. When installed your cables should make nice big graceful curves. Big sweeps keep the friction to a minimum. As far as the timing arm not returning to it's stop that is a definate safety concern. If your engine does not idle well shifting will be very harsh. Grinding of gears and just to much throttle for safe operation. I believe this a result of the cables being sluggish. I don't believe the fact that your cable ends are uneven is causing your trouble. Test the cables for motion and go from there.

Let us know how you make out,

Norm

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Dana -

To troubleshoot the stiffness, unhook the cables from the engine and test.

There is a friction adjustment on the 703 control.

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And what I've done in the past is disconnect both cables at the powerhead and "see" where both the shift and throttle arms on the motor want to sit naturally in the neutral and full stop idle positions. Then adjust the cable lengths accordingly. This way, you'll also be able to see if the timing arm returns to the stop when you slide the throttle arm back on its own without having the cable attached.

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Thanks for the suggestions. Although I have not specifically confirmed yet (will do soon) the cables should be free moving as they are less than 5 years old.

Sounds like its a matter of just making small adjustments and seeing the results.

Is there any reason I would need to adjust both the in throtle connections and engine connections?

It makes sense that I would disconnect cables from engine to see where the shift and throttle levers like to sit at rest, then adjust the cables to mate to those positions. In fact that is what I did... but will try again.

My next step will be removing from engine and seeing how still they are, and trying the friction screw Phil reminded me of.

Thanks for all the help.