Help Please! Reverse gate clamshell not opertating properly.

[Sandman251]

Hi everybody!

Just bought a 97' Challenger 110. Boat is in fantastic condition and has a fresh rebuild. One defect was a broken shift / reverse cable. It had sheared off at the base of the shift lever. Ordered one from SBT. Got it pretty quickly. Seems like a very well made piece. Anyway, the install was much easier than I thought. The shifter moves very smoothly now. One thing, though. I have it shortened as much as I can, but it won't move the clamshell up far enough to lock in the foreword position. Its very close. In fact, if I really move it into F with some authority, it will actually lock. Problem is, once locked, the shifter will not release the lock to allow movement of the clamshell. I can see now why they broke the old cable. Must have forced it. I can easily actuate the lock manually. Looks like the first move of the shift cable should be to release the lock. Is this a lock mech issue or a cable issue? Frankly, the boat works great without being locked in F. I heard it was a liability thing with Seadoo to use these clamshell locks.

Anybody see an issue with disabling the lock mech? My worry is if I or some other person manages to lock the clam and the boat shuts off, there will be no way to restart it as the shifter will be locked in F. Somebody would have to jump in and unlock it by hand.

Any insight would be great.

Thanks!

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

Not sure I'm helping much but...... Mine has this lock on it as well. Also, I must move the shifter to "F" with some authority to reach the lock position but it does unlock fairly easily.

Try to fix this if you can IMO, I kind of think it might save your bucket from dropping and being blown off by the jet? Then no reverse just at the wrong time when you need it most!!! :O

Anyway, I noticed there's a rather small and stiff coil spring pushing against the lock lever and when moving out of "F" position to "N" position the cable pushes the latch in such a way as to depress this spring for the release. Mine doesn't hang on release at all yet but the metal lever does look worn.

Bottom line, last time I looked at this I recall thinking I might eventually have to reshape the lock lever with a few strokes of a file if it became more worn?

Proceed at your own risk, buyer beware and have a great day.