No Reverse... What's the deal???

[jtryon]

yes, the cracked plates are the typical reason for reverse failure on these transmissions, the same thing happened to mine before i got it rebuilt.

[tstruth]

I just want to give an update on the transmission rebuilt. I put much thought in to doing the inner clutch plates on the ring gear since I had it all apart on the bench but the inside of the transmission looked clean and I went with the old saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix". I replaced the reverse clutch plates and the eleven spring. Put her back together and went to the lake to install on the boat. I left the Damper plate alone. It looked good with no sign of any wear. I cleaned the surface and lubed the gear. After locking on the bell housing and fastening the transmission to it I noticed the motor dropped down an inch seeing that I removed the rear motor mounts, the shaft coupling would not line up. This was a problem. After some thought I loosened up the swivel on the front motor mounts, took a strap and tied in to the side of the trailer, fed the strap under the transmission and tied the other end of the strap to the trailer hick on my truck. Pulled the truck forward a little and the transmission raised up and lined up perfectly. locked it up to the rear motor mounts and finished the install. Kept the same cooler and hoses. Filled it up with two quarts of fluid, changed the engine oil and filter and dropped her in the lake. Tried to start her and no luck. No spark. Puzzled for a few and decided to check the ballast resister seeing that I had to remove her during the rebuild. Puller the cover and one of the connections came off. Connected it and started her up. I let the motor warm up a bit and when I pulled the throttle back she went back as well.

I would like to thank all of you folks that took the time to give me advice and help. Thanks Lively for the pictures. One strange thing I noticed during the rebuild. My forward and reverse adapter looked as if it was damaged. Like something blew a hole through it. After some research I found the it was actually a port. So I put her back in. I found one online without the port and ordered it before i realized it. Hopefully I can send it back. No idea why some have it and some don't. If any one needs one without a port, let me know.

Tom

[lively]

I just want to give an update on the transmission rebuilt. I put much thought in to doing the inner clutch plates on the ring gear since I had it all apart on the bench but the inside of the transmission looked clean and I went with the old saying, "If it's not broke, don't fix". I replaced the reverse clutch plates and the eleven spring. Put her back together and went to the lake to install on the boat. I left the Damper plate alone. It looked good with no sign of any wear. I cleaned the surface and lubed the gear. After locking on the bell housing and fastening the transmission to it I noticed the motor dropped down an inch seeing that I removed the rear motor mounts, the shaft coupling would not line up. This was a problem. After some thought I loosened up the swivel on the front motor mounts, took a strap and tied in to the side of the trailer, fed the strap under the transmission and tied the other end of the strap to the trailer hick on my truck. Pulled the truck forward a little and the transmission raised up and lined up perfectly. locked it up to the rear motor mounts and finished the install. Kept the same cooler and hoses. Filled it up with two quarts of fluid, changed the engine oil and filter and dropped her in the lake. Tried to start her and no luck. No spark. Puzzled for a few and decided to check the ballast resister seeing that I had to remove her during the rebuild. Puller the cover and one of the connections came off. Connected it and started her up. I let the motor warm up a bit and when I pulled the throttle back she went back as well.

I would like to thank all of you folks that took the time to give me advice and help. Thanks Lively for the pictures. One strange thing I noticed during the rebuild. My forward and reverse adapter looked as if it was damaged. Like something blew a hole through it. After some research I found the it was actually a port. So I put her back in. I found one online without the port and ordered it before i realized it. Hopefully I can send it back. No idea why some have it and some don't. If any one needs one without a port, let me know.

Tom

well that's good to hear !! i couldn't really tell by the pics but im glad you got it fixed and back up and running

[Nickgb55]

Hey Tom...I am having this reverse issue after a pretty strong prop strike on a log. As soon as the tranny goes to shift into reverse the engine stutters or dies.

I have not tore things apart yet but to replace the reverse rings as you did, did you need to remove the transmission completely or could you do this job with it in the boat?

I could end up getting into things and finding bigger issues but hoping it is just this or something even less. Just trying to do some sue diligence.

[Creekrat]

My parents' old boat had reverse go out on their mastercraft years ago. I ended up rebuilding it. We found that the springs on the pressure plate for the reverse gear basket had all sheared off and the friction itself was in 3 pieces.