Problem with Morse-type shift/throttle control

[sandy stone]

Having a little trouble with my pedestal-mounted engine control. When I shift from neutral into forward idle speed, all good. But when I go to advance the throttle in forward, or throttle back down to forward idle, the lever is stiffer than I think it ought to be. If I hold the little button down to advance the throttle in neutral, all good.

I don't see how it can be a cable problem, because when I shift from neutral to forward idle, the shift lever at the transmission is moved completely into gear and doesn't move any farther. And like I said, the lever moves easily to throttle up the engine when holding the tranny in neutral. I think the problem must be in the control mechanism. Before I go tinkering around, has anyone else seen this? And hopefully come up with a fix?

[Pete7]

Cables don't last forever, how old are yours? Certainly worth taking the control box apart and having a good look inside. Its not difficult to see how the mechanism works, quite clever actually. Remove the cables and disconnect the engine end, then see if one or more has more friction. When new they can be slid in and out by hand. If okay, grease the living daylights out of the control box and re-assemble.

Final thing, check the routing, sharp bends are a real no no.

[kapnd]

Isolate the components and move them independently to locate the source of the problem.
If you need to replace cables, buying the cheapest available parts is not the best option, as quality cables give far better performance.

[skipperpete]

What engine and what gearbox? The shift control first moves the gear selector and when that arc is complete the cable and lever stop and the speed control cable starts moving as the lever is advanced further. It sounds like the gear selector isn’t completing its cycle to fully engaged and this is possibly what’s causing the speed control to feel tight as it’s advanced but ok with the little button depressed. Disconnect the shift cable from the gearbox selector and try a normal shift into gear and increase rpm to either verify or dismiss the adjustment theory..... there’s more to check but the type of gearbox and linkage travel direction is significant. As an aside, a partially seized shift cable will cause the problem you describe.