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Bravo1 shift cable bellow replacement

14068 Views 12 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Boat Tech
Found out tonight that my shift cable has a nice hole in it. :|err

Need the boat for tomorrow night for fireworks on our lake. Anyone have an idea how difficult it is to replace it? 30 minutes or 5 hours?
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To do it right pull the drive so you don't damage the inner cable. About 2 1/2 hours. I think i have a link on this some place I will try to find it for you.
To do it right pull the drive so you don't damage the inner cable. About 2 1/2 hours. I think i have a link on this some place I will try to find it for you.
Good deal, If not, the leak isn't so bad that I cant take the boat out for a few hours and hit the bilge pump every 30 minutes. Just would like to leave it in the water for this coming weekend.
the shift cable boot is often overlooked during service and can sink a boat quilcky
Good deal, If not, the leak isn't so bad that I cant take the boat out for a few hours and hit the bilge pump every 30 minutes. Just would like to leave it in the water for this coming weekend.
Duck tape it up your boat will be faster:D Here is the link I was thinking about, I talked about it in post #3. http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/...lows-replacement.html?highlight=shift+bellows Good luck with it.
Pull the drive.

Take apart the cable at the shifter bracket.

Take the plastic end off the inside part of the cable.

Take the adjustment piece off the inside part of the cable. (Don't spin the adjuster piece and you will be much closer when you put it back together)

Slide the inner part of the cable out of the back of the cable (transom side)

Slide the inner part of the cable back inside the cable from inside the boat. (you are going to use this as a guide to get the cable back in, very important)

Take the hose clamp off.

Take the nut off the outside of the cable housing on the bell housing.

Pull the entire cable out, leaving the inner part of the cable hanging in the hole.

Pull the bellows off.

Put the new bellows on, it's going to hard as hell to get it over the brass end, but it will go if you push hard enough and spray it with silicon spray.

Slide inner cable back into the outer cable outside on the transom end.

Now the inner cable is going to be your guide to route the cable back through the transom, around your y-pipe if you have one, and back around your flywheel cover.

Have someone pull the inner cable from the inside, while you push from the outside. If they pull too hard and inner cable comes out, your going to make a halfway difficult job into a very difficult job, lol.

Now pull the inner cable out from the inside.

Put the nut back on.

Put the inner cable back in from the outside like it was originally.

Put the adjustment piece back on.

Put the plastic end back on.

Tighten the hose clamp.

Put the clamp on the end of the bellows.

Put the cable back in the shifter bracket.

Install the drive.

Run the motor and check your adjustment.

The job is done.

Sounds easy right? If I missed anything I'm sorry. This was off the top of my head.
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1. use the boat and keep an eye on the leak (bilge pump will handle it easy)
2. When you have time take it to a shop



I did it myself and it was not that bad but but but it was kind of pain in the ass.

Good Post above on the how to do the job.
Thanks for the tips, everyone. I got the bellow this morning and my neighbor and I are going to pull the drive and have at it.

Should be a walk in the park! :)st
Thanks for the tips, everyone. I got the bellow this morning and my neighbor and I are going to pull the drive and have at it.

Should be a walk in the park! :)st
I found you a older working mercruiser bravo drive service manual number 11 on the web for you to use in case you need any help, there is other working stuff in side this site also on some engines and things, To get to the other stuff you need to open the main menu on the top right corner, All the lower numberd stuff seems to be working, If you open up page 4A-20 it will show you the shift cable removal. To get there faster if you scrole down five pages to "service manual outline", [There will be some blue #s on the right side] You can open the black #s in the center of the page so you can go where you need to faster. And for evrey one eles that dose there own work to your boat this would be a helpfull link to save to help give you an idea on how to work on your boat. At least till the link stops working on it's own. Well I hope this works out for you good luck with it.:) http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/11/11covr5x.pdf
I found you a older working mercruiser bravo drive service manual number 11 on the web for you to use in case you need any help, there is other working stuff in side this site also on some engines and things, To get to the other stuff you need to open the main menu on the top right corner, All the lower numberd stuff seems to be working, If you open up page 4A-20 it will show you the shift cable removal. To get there faster if you scrole down five pages to "service manual outline", [There will be some blue #s on the right side] You can open the black #s in the center of the page so you can go where you need to faster. And for evrey one eles that dose there own work to your boat this would be a helpfull link to save to help give you an idea on how to work on your boat. At least till the link stops working on it's own. Well I hope this works out for you good luck with it.:) http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/11/11covr5x.pdf
Thanks for that link! I saved it for future reverence. I got the new bellow on and the boat is in the water. Thanks for the help!
G
Thanks for that link! I saved it for future reverence. I got the new bellow on and the boat is in the water. Thanks for the help!
Good stuff, have a great weekend.
Thanks for that link! I saved it for future reverence. I got the new bellow on and the boat is in the water. Thanks for the help!
What you did not like the duck tape idea :D No problem, Glad you got it done so fast, Good job.
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