Transmission stuck in gear, now what?

[the_bot]

I have a '99 Super Sport with 160 hours on it that I just picked up a couple months ago, and everything has been great up until now.

Yeasterday, while out driving I couldn't get it into neutral. With the throttle in the neutral position, it's still in gear. If I try to put it in reverse it makes a terrible sound and the motor stalls.

I looked at the fluid level and it was a bit low. I then topped it off and it took a little less than a half a quart. I also took the gear linkage off the transmission and tried shifting it by hand with the same results. The lever moves into the three positions with the boat off but with it running it does the same as when it's hooked back up to the throttle.

Anything I can do to unstick it or is the damage done and a rebuild imminent? Also, I imagine it's not a good idea to continue using the boat with it like that?

[Scoobie2]

Use it more? After experience the same issue, getting the boat on the trailer was enough for me to know I wasn't going to use it again until it was fixed. If you do get it unstuck, the damage is done and is going to be an issue again for sure. I replaced my transmission, see the link, and it takes a lot of effort to complete by yourself. I was happy with the price on a new vs rebuild and installed it over a weekend. Call Skidim, they were excellent and ask for a discount or order online. I waited until I had it all in hand before changing so that everything was fresh. I happened to have a forklift available to hold the engine up and help with the replacement of the motor/transmission/v-drive mounts. Be careful of the v-drive oil seal as the clearance to the gas tank is very tight an. Not entirely sure, but I wonder if it would be easier to remove the transmission together with the v-drive.

If you go with new, the bracket for the transmission cable made no sense to me and I gave up and fabricated my own. As the old bracket doubled as a cover for the transmission to V-drive connector, you'll need to fabricate something to cover that hole.

The best tool I found was my pry bar for landscaping, which worked like a hot **** for aligning the V-drive to the drive shaft. Aligning starts out to be rather intimidating until you get going. Once you start and get your head around which way to go on a V-drive it isn't all that bad.

[Scoobie2]

so I have never linked before, which is somewhat obvious. Do a search for "2001 San transmission failure"

[BoardNBama]

Years ago we had a direct drive and the prop turned when in neutral. It would grind to put into reverse, but never stalled the engine. Turns out the clutch disc had warped so bad that instead of sitting straight, the curved edges caught enough to turn the prop.

[ffmedic74]

Call fantastic finish marine. Might be able to help.

[the_bot]

So I dropped the boat off at the dealer I got it from in July and they called me today quoting me almost $3,800 to install a brand new, warrantied transmission. I asked about rebuilding and they said they won't do it. Does that seem incredibly high?

I contacted FF Marine through their site, but haven't heard back yet.

I'm going to get some quotes from some other shops, but there aren't many locally that work on inboards, unless I trailer it 3 hours to the Twin Cities area.