Reverse Gate Just, Popped Off???

[Biffitis]

Like the title says, it just popped off. I was coming into dock, at idle, hit neutral to slow things up, hit reverse and gave it just a little throttle (and I do mean a little) when it thrusted backwards a bit and then "pop". I now had nothing but forward, and the shifter didn't feel positive.
Fortunately I was at shore so after I docked I crawled around to look at the pump and the gate was just hanging by the cable. I felt around and everything seemed to be there, so I just kind of spread the gate a little and slipped it back over the pivots. Nothing broke, nothing missing, and everything works again. But...
Is is normal for an older boat (mines an 97 Challenger single) to have these issues? If I had to hit reverse quickly in a bad situation and it only reversed for a second before launching forward I'd be in real trouble.

 

[Dr Honda]

Nope... that's not normal.

I'll have to check the parts diagram... but none of seadoo's pumps just have pivots. They should be bolts, with a "Head" on it, so the parts are captured.

Can you post a pic of your reverse bucket pivot?

 

[Dr Honda]

OK.... I can't keep every part, for every ski inventoried in my head... so I looked up your pump... and yes... it should be a shoulder bolt to hold the gate on.

http://fiche.seadoowarehouse.com/se...997 Sea Doo Jet Boat Challenger (USA) REVERSE

Part #7

 

[jwgagnon]

This happened to mine, except I lost my reverse bucket completely. I was told to use threadlock so that there's no chance those bolts could come off again.

 

[Biffitis]

The bolts didn't come off, the bucket simply popped over the bolts. Looking at it now I'm thinking the bucket/gate has the wrong bolts in it...

 

[Chester]

Those are the wrong bolts.

Chester

 

[Biffitis]

Now that I've looked closely at things and the recess in the gate pivot I tend to agree with you guys. Now I'm left wondering "who the hell replaces bolts with the wrong ones"? I hope they're not putting wheels on cars somewhere...

 

[M_R]

Had the correct bolt on the reverse cable side actually screw itself loose this summer on an 951 Sportster LE and found the gate hanging by the reverse cable and the opposite bolt, rendering reverse useless. In a pinch I was able to cannibalize and borrow a similar screw with same pitch from a bracket in the engine compartment to keep the gate in place until the correct bolt could be bought. FYI it was around $9 CAD for the single bolt.

After my experience, I'd recommend to double check those 2 screws at least once a season, and for sure right away if your not the original owner of the machine and have never checked them. I'm sure a new gate is a lot more than $9 not to mention the dangers of an unexpected reverse surprise should you unknowingly loose a bolt, or have the wrong ones installed like Biffitis unfortunately did.

 

[jhjesse]

Had the correct bolt on the reverse cable side actually screw itself loose this summer on an 951 Sportster LE and found the gate hanging by the reverse cable and the opposite bolt, rendering reverse useless. In a pinch I was able to cannibalize and borrow a similar screw with same pitch from a bracket in the engine compartment to keep the gate in place until the correct bolt could be bought. FYI it was around $9 CAD for the single bolt.

After my experience, I'd recommend to double check those 2 screws at least once a season, and for sure right away if your not the original owner of the machine and have never checked them. I'm sure a new gate is a lot more than $9 not to mention the dangers of an unexpected reverse surprise should you unknowingly loose a bolt, or have the wrong ones installed like Biffitis unfortunately did.

Use loctite

 

[KKing]

Those are the wrong bolts.

Chester

Agreed. There should be a washer/bolt head in the recessed area of the bucket. From the looks of things all those bolt heads are doing is filling the hole, not actually holding anything on

 

[Biffitis]

Well, problem solved. It would appear that the correct bolts were in the steering nozzle and not in the reverse gate. Now, I had the whole pump apart over the last winter so I suppose it's possible I'm to blame for the mix up. But, I'm pretty sure I put everything back the same way it came apart. Learned a valuable lesson though - just because that's the way it came apart doesn't mean that's the way it's supposed to go back together...

 

[jhjesse]

Good find!!
Be sure to use blue loctite on reassembly.

 

[Biffitis]

Be sure to use blue loctite on reassembly.

Oh I did. Everything on this raft gets Loctite! :thumbsup:

 

[Guest_User]

you have trim on your challenger, wow! dayum, I`m jealous...:thumbsup: