Sheared bolt on Edson pedestal gear shift lever

[Footloose]

FWIW-I ordered a set today.

[Stu Jackson]

Yet another item from the "Critical Upgrades" List.

If I didn't already have them, I would be on line right now buying them.   

http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Edson_Throttle_and_Shift_Levers

It's there ALREADY.  Really.

[awesome34]

Be careful when you replace the gear shift levers.  This was one of the first boat projects that I undertook when I bought my boat and I thought I had successfully replaced my plastic gear shift with the new metal one.  However, it turned out that the new metal lever did not get all the way into forward gear before it ran into the guard.  I really wish I had figured that out before backing my boat from the slip into the fairway...      It is really hard to get the boat to go where you want in a narrow fairway with only reverse and neutral. 

We were able to back the boat out into the bay without running into anything and thankfully I still had the old levers and screws and I reinstalled the plastic gear shift.  Anyway, for some, there may be more work than just attaching a new throttle lever to make this change.   

-Eric

[Kevin Henderson]

Eric,  I notice that my lever touches the pedestal guard as well.  Although not too severely as you have described. 
What kind of adjustment is necessary to get the lever to still get into forward gear but not contact the guard? 

[awesome34]

Kevin,

I have been sticking with the plastic gear shift and have not completed the project because I am not completely comfortable doing it myself, but I did look into what I think would need to be done. 

If you remove the compass from the pedestal so that you can see what the gear shift is attached to you will see that it is attached to a cable that I believe goes to the transmission.  You would need to adjust the position of that cable relative to the position of the lever so that the neutral position has the lever a little further back.  Since I haven't actually attempted to do this you can take this idea for what it's worth (which may not be much). 

I have an additional problem that my throttle lever screw has seized, so it is going to take a lot of work to remove it and tools that I don't have.  I have broken a ton of cobalt drill bits trying to drill it out, so I have decided to look into having a professional do both parts of this project for me.  I plan to see if the company that is going to do my yearly engine service soon will also replace the gear and throttle handles and make any necessary adjustments so that the lever shifts properly. 

So while I do own two metal replacement levers, I am still running with the old plastic ones until I can find a safe and effective way to replace them. 

-Eric

[Les Luzar]

Is the issue the length (longer) or the angle of the lever (seems angled from the pictures) and or the top of the levers having the flat sections with discriptions on them? Or all the above? I have a C-34 boat neighbor who has replaced these levers with stainless. I will measure my plastic levers and his stainless levers out of curiosity.

[Stu Jackson]

Here's the Critical Upgrade post link:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5078.msg31131.html#msg31131

It says that some newer ss ones may hit the binnacle guard.

That's why we write the CUs.

[Added:  Link added to CU back to this discussion.]

[Stephen Butler]

Replaced our 1990 plastic lever with SS.  Also took a close look at the attachment bolts using a penetrating dye and magnifying glass, and they appeared ok.  The new SS levers did initially hit the guard, particulary the transmission lever...workable but required a "special" touch to get into and out of gear...nerve racking and not a situation we wanted to accept. We spent 2 days trying to adjust the linkage for the transmission and finally turned to our yard, which quickly put a slight bend into the lever, without any cracks or visible changes.  Works great.  Would stress the importance of changing those old plastic levers for SS.   We keep our wheel and binnacle covered when not sailing and the levers still degraded to the point of being a safety issue. This really is a critical maintenance and safety issue.   One question regarding the sheared lever bolts is how much force was being applied to the levers? Would think that even a substandard bolt, with no corrosion would still require quite a bit of force to shear.  On our boat, the levers do not require anywhere near the required force to activate.  Just a question.

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Awsome,
Do you have a mechanic that you've been using and are happy with? If not, I can give you the name of two good ones that I've done business with.

Mike

[awesome34]

Hi Mike,

I talked to your recommendation Alfredo at Quality Marine about servicing my engine and was going to ask him about the levers as well.   If you have any additional recommendations for mechanics that would be great. 

Thanks,
Eric

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

Hi Eric,
Sorry, I didn't recognize your handle, are you still at Seaforth?
Alfredo is a great mechanic. The only problem I ever had with him is that he's a bit lax at being there when he said he would be there. I always had to call him a few days ahead of time to make sure he was still going to be there and then again first am the day of the appointment.
If he doesn't work out for you, another choice is Phillip Jones/Marine Man ph 619-990-1448. He has never done work for me personally but some of my dockmates at Marina Village used and liked him allot. He also did a engine swap out for a personal friend over at Shelter Island and put a rebuilt M25xp in his Erickson 30 and my friend was very happy with his work.

Hope all is well,
Mike

[awesome34]

Thanks again, Mike.  I will try keeping on top of Alfredo first since I have already contacted him.  I have moved to the Marriott Marina in San Diego Bay. 

-Eric

[Steve Sayian]

I had the same problem with the lever hitting the guard.

My problem was that the connector on the transmission end was not deep enough to screw the entire length of the threadad cable so I only could adjust it halfway down the threads.  I removed the cable from the transmiossion end and cut the threaded end to allow the connector to screw down to the end of the cable.  I also got rid of the lock nut on the cable because the once reconnected, the cable isn't moving. That solved the problem.  The transmission now engages about 3/4 of an inch before hitting the guard.  No impact to neutral or reverse shifting.

Steve

[awesome34]

I finally replaced the plastic levers on Awesome with stainless steel.  I prevented the gear shift from hitting the pedestal guard in a slightly different way than I've seen posted, but some of the other suggestions might be better. 

Accessing the rear of the engine from the aft berth access panel, you can see that the cable that goes to the gear shift lever is held in place by a bracket.  If you loosen that bracket you can shift the cable forward or backward and give yourself a little extra room for the gear shift lever. There is only a small part of the cable that is protected by a metal casing that the bracket can be tightened on, but it was just enough for us to make an adjustment that left about a quarter inch before the lever would run into the guard. 

-Eric

[Ron Hill]

Eric : There is also another adjustment that you can make to insure the shift lever on the transmission is fully engaged in FWD.
The problem is that the stainless shift levers are made for the newer curved Edson pedestal guard and not the older straight stainless guard.

I've written this up before, but it's worth repeating. 
Take the shift cable and put it in the bottom hole of the transmission shift lever. The bottom hole gives more "throw" while the top hole gives more "leverage".

A thought.