Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Had cleaned and inspected water pump and ran on muffs. Could I have not gotten the shifter spline alligned? On the shifter next to the console is a black 2" rubber button that will keep it in neutral while advancing the throttle which I had Joy push while running on the muffs and moving into forward and reverse. All seemed okay. Went to launch this afternoon and had no reverse or forward even with rpm increase when moving. How would I determine if the button is now stuck in neutral? There are two steel shafts under the cowling that look like shift rods or throttle linkage. Only the bottom one moves when moving the shifter now. Are both supposed to move? See pix of linkage and shift spline.

The "button" should pop back out when back in the neutral position. The cable that moved is your throttle. The button on the remote could be stuck in, the gear cable might have just come disconnected in the remote, or you have a broken cable. You'll have to open the remote to see what is going on.

Thanks. That helps a bit since the "free accelerator" does not seem to "pop" back out. It just feels weak. It seems that it is mechanical and somehow disengages the gear shift cable on actuation but I've not found much on it. My operation manual on the 704 is sparse and in multiple languages. The top cable in the image does not move when moving the remote handle, only the throttle (bottom). I'll try to see more inside the remote tomorrow. I might pull the pin on the top cable to see if the cable will move. Or is that a bad idea?

My mistake, I have the 704. After looking at my manual I would bet money one of the clips inside popped off.

After looking closely at the cable connections, remote and under cowling, and finding everything moved as it should, guess what I found? The little tube that hangs from the upper down into the lower where the gear shift spline connects had scratches on it. See pix. When I went to install the lower, I had the engine tilted up to max height and that little tube is wobbly. It was leaning toward the earth so when I went to stab the lower back into place after inspecting, cleaning and lubing the impeller, the gear shift spline completely missed going into the tube. Hence, no shift connection. When I saw the scratches after dropping to lower again, I was pretty sure that was the issue. I had my First Mate slide a putty knife in and hold the tube while doing it a second time. What fun! It is a typical mistake for an amateur boat mechanic like me.

Yep! I was going to add "I think you missed the linkage hole...." It happens a lot!