stiff throttle sleeve

[Dominic(UK)]

The sleeve, for selecting reverse, on the throttle lever of my 92 SN is becoming stiff. Is there anything i can do to free it, or am i looking at a replacement.
Any suggestions will be gratefully received, the infomation on this forum,especialy in the mainenance section is priceless!
thank you
dominic

[JAG]

RE: stiff throttle sleeve

Are you referring to the safety that you pull up on to move the throttle lever into reverse?

[Dominic(UK)]

stiff throttle sleeve

Hi Jag

Yes, its a black plastic thing directly under the wooden knob on the end of the throttle lever.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, i dont want to find i cant engage reverse next time i'm approaching the jetty.

thanks
Dominic

[TRBenj]

RE: stiff throttle sleeve

Take a look at how that mechanism works, it cant get much simpler. You can see all the moving parts from the backside of the throttle (looking at it from outside the boat). Just hit the sleeve, cable and key with some penetrating lube. If that doesnt free it up, remove the throttle assembly from the boat, disassemble, clean, lube and reinstall.

[JAG]

Stiff Throttle Sleeve

Hey Dominic,

Follow TRBenj directions. That particular throttle/shifter assembly is no longer made by Morse so take care of it. One thing you should look at while you're at it are the small brass connectors that connect the cables to the control levers. They can wear out over the years since they most likely were never lubricated. If one fails you can loose control of the throttle or shifter. I lost the shifter but I was lucky it happened at an idle. If it happened at full throttle or while picking up some one with a less than experienced driver at the wheel it could have been a disaster. You can get the brass connectors from www.skidim.com, and they are easily replaced.

JAG

[Dominic(UK)]

Well, i towed the boat back to my factory and removed and stripped down the throttle assembly, i found it operated quite freely when seperated from the teleflex cables, it was also still well greased.
I cleaned all the parts and found wear in the pin for selecting neutral, this wear comes from a sprung loaded ball bearing pushing into a groove on the pin. By reassembling with fresh grease and spinning the pin 180 degrees the throttle and neutral selector feels like new.
However as soon as i connected it back the stiffness returned, after some head scratching i looked at the gearbox end of the teleflex, only to find The exhaust baffle had dropped onto the gearbox linkage,jamming it, as soon as i lifted the baffle off the linkage all was free!
It just goes to show how important it is to check everything first.
With the boat returned to the water, i can say its all been worth it, the neutral pin is so slick now,and with the clean and all the other small jobs done the boat feels fantastic.
Thank you for your help jag and Trbenj, i think its always worth checking here before doing to much to the boat.

Dominic