tranny ball detent

With tranny cable unhooked if I move the shift lever on the transmision from neutral towards reverse, the drive shaft doesn't stop moving until just before the ball detent sets into reverse. It's a velvet drive 1.1. Any ideas for adjustment so it's actually in neutral when it's in the neutral detent. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Eric thanks for responding. Yes it is in my drive. The trans is turning in neutral, and it's enough to move the boat in the water. At the end of last summer, I took the cable off in the water and same results. It is in gear on the forward and reverse detent, just not a clean neutral in center detent. The clean neutral is just before it goes in reverse.

your forward plates have a little warp in them from slippage, the reason it is stopping when shifting into reverse is because the reverse plates are starting to grab and stopping the shaft so it appears that you have nuetral. it is the start of a problem that will only worsen with time and becomes a safety issue with the man in the water's toe's.
what year boat and any history on the trans? it is pretty common, im seeing alot of mid 80's transmissions lately, or it may have been powered up with an low oil level slipping the plates and causing the warpage

I was afraid you guys were going to say that. Eric you may be seeing it sooner than I hoped. Yes it is a mid 80's, an 86 2001. Would any kind of synthetics prolong life? After the other winter fix ups and rebuilds a tranny repair would be pushing the budget.

What Pete said...and on top of that, it'll quit at the worst possible time. Mine had the same symptoms and then quit right before a 4th of july party.

10-17 650.00 to 780.00, I always have to swap input shafts because of piiting and usually have to put pumps on them, it would have all the updates and steel reverse plates, bearings, return springs. I have an abundance of hard parts and always throw them in for guy's on the site....rarely do i get one to where i open it and all it needs are a re-seal and clutches. but if you want to post pics I'll walk you thru it.

ripsaw wrote: Would any kind of synthetics prolong life?

In case Pete's response wasnt clear enough, DO NOT use synthetic oil in these transmissions. I have been told by Eric, SkiDIM and PCM themselves that synthetic oil is too slippery and will cause our wet clutch trannies to prematurely fail. This was in regards to my PCM box, but I assume that it holds true for the BW's as well. Stick with conventional Valvoline Dex/Merc.

Sound about right, Eric?

TR, is on the money, there were never any issues with good old dexron mercon,
Rip, it all depends on how you take care of the trans, Ive seen them with 2500 hours on them and those get heavy use, time is a killer also on these transmissions, if they sit for long periods that is very hard on them,
The best thing you can do to these tranny's is use the bioat alot, change the oil once or twice a season, align them once a year, pattern yourself to wait for the trans to stop spinning when shifting, make sure you have a good damper and a good running engine to match (no misses). these are all factors that will extend the life of these transmissions
it was common to see 3000 hours on Coast Guard transmissions (some used Borg Warner's) and they were maintained as you can imagine

8122pbrainard wrote: Time to pull the trans and ship it to Eric!!!

We have heard of some disasters here with the DIY! I feel you should do some thinking about doing it yourself. I'm mechanically inclined, have rebuilt several engines, and I do have the Velvet manual. I'd still ship my trans to Eric!

eric I'm going to pull it out and send it your way, who do I call to ship something that heavy? I dont think ups will go over 75lbs or so. Do you want it boxed up in a wood crate?

boy that was quick, now if I could only get it out that fast. Thanks eric hopefully you wll see it before to long, I'm heading to the garage to start on it.

You got me, all I did was ask a simple tranny ?, and next thing I knew I was pulling it out and sending to eric.

taxabal, where did you find type fa? it wont hurt a thing, type fa was mainly used in the graphite plate trasnmssions and has no bearing on the bronze type plates, the point is you made the effort to change the oil and the books do say type fa, so keep using it if you have access to it

ripsaw wrote: eric I don't understand what the 10-17 is.

That there is good enough reason alone to send it out.

noted