Outboard Motor Shifting Question

[CNY Lee]

I was wondering how much noise you should hear when shifting from neutral to forward or reverse. I can hear the gears engaging but was wondering when to much noise is an issue.

Thanks

[Minnesota Fats]

If you don't shift decisively there can be some noise. But if you are, it should be pretty minimal.

[boatfixer]

Basically, you dont want to hear slow grinding. The quicker it goes into gear the better.How big is the motor and what kind of noise are you hearing?

[CNY Lee]

Thanks for replying guys.

It's a 2001 Yamaha 80hp 4-Stroke. It's not really grinding but it the gears trying to engage (click, click, click,click) and not sure how long they should click before engageing or maybe it's me not engaging it fast enough.

[boatfixer]

Click was the word I was looking for, not so much grind.

Try shifting into gear a little quicker. The clicking is the edges of the clutch dog coming into contact with the lugs on the gear. Ultimately you want full engagement, so the slower the shift and more clicking you hear, the less contact is being made. You are not doing it any help by easing it into gear. Anyone who has heard an older mercruiser go into gear would know what I mean-THUNK. You want the thunk. Just going into gear tho, you dont have to throttle up fast.

[marine_man]

Also, try and make your shifts at idle and not high idle - that'll help with the engagement, but it should be a quick, smooth shift. Not excessively slow...

marine_man