I have a 2006 twin 155 equipped utopia 205 that I purchased last year. It pulled pretty significantly to the left and the boat was just 'off'. When I checked the reverse gate, I realized that it wasn't locking in the up position, meaning it was at least partially down during full speed.
Since I was changing the cable lock, I pulled the reverse cable from the control handle and adjusted it.
This is a common issue with these types of boats and the reason is that the control cable is just a bit too long. Here is how I fixed it:
Since I was changing the cable lock, I pulled the reverse cable from the control handle and adjusted it.
This is a common issue with these types of boats and the reason is that the control cable is just a bit too long. Here is how I fixed it:
- Remove the reverse cable from the reverse gate buckets by removing the 10mm nut and washer on the gate's cable post
- With everything disconnected, lift your gates all the way up and see if they lock in place
- If they don't, make sure the little spring (A simple piece of folded stainless about 1/4" wide is in place and has proper tension. If it doesn't, remove the bolt behind it, remove the spring and open it up. Re-install and retest
- If the gate still refuses to latch, make sure that the little catch lever has enough grip on the stainless plate attached to the nozzle bracket. I used a wide flat screwdriver and increased the gap.
- Keep testing until you are sure it latches properly. Do not make it to tight or it will not unlatch
- Once your gate is latching properly, reattach the cable to the reverse cable and test it
- Move the shifter to full throttle and check to see that the reverse gate is latched in place
- Go to neutral to see if the reverse gate releases, if it does, go to full reverse and check the gates to make sure they are completely down.
- If you have issues with any of the test in section 3, you will need to adjust the reverse cable
- Put you shifter in neutral if it isn't there already
- Remove the control handle and pass the mechanism out through the speaker hole (for Utopia, not sure about other models)
- Remove the reverse shifter cable (the thick one with the black retainer) c-clip and detach the cable from the shifter mounting post.
- Manually pull your gates all the way up into the latched position
- Put your shifter into full throttle and compare the position of the cable connector to the shifter mounting post. Adjust it so that the cable fits on perfectly without needing to move anything. Note: Mine was pretty long and I had to screw the connector all the way in AND adjust the rear connector at the gate which was not fun.
- Once connected, shift back to neutral to make sure the gates unlatch. Now move to full throttle and make sure the gates latch.
- If they still do not latch in place, the cable is still too long and will need to adjusted at the gate end.
- Remove the the reverse cable from the shifter mounting post
- Remove the cable from reverse gate mounting post
- Remove the cotter pin just behind the long boot on the gate shifter cable that keeps the cable block in place
- Remove the top cap
- Being careful not to damage the boot, use a flat screw driver to pry the block out from the bracket. Take this opportunity to check the boot condition and that the tie wraps are in place and holding. Replace if necessary because water intrusion will cause the reverse cable to corrode internally and seize
- Once extracted, turn the table block counter clock wise until you are almost at the boot tie wrap. It's better to leave a little space between the block and boot tie wrap to make reinsertion of the locking cap easier. Reassemble and reconnect the cable to the reverse gate. We will hopefully not need to adjust anything at that end anymore.
- Move your shifter to full throttle, and readjust the reverse cable link until it can be put down on the mounting post where it sits.
- Reassemble everything and retest. If everything is set up properly, you will be able to unlatch and move the gates all the way down.
- To reinstall the control handle, move it to neutral to allow you to properly place the handle when reinstalled. If the boat will not start, your neutral is not aligned.
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