gearbox or morse control?

[john]

have 1984 bukh 20. Throttle is stiff to move into neutral and can go straight into reverse when moving from forward gear. Is this a problem with throttle control (does it need greasing?) or (hope not!) the gearbox?
thanks

 

[Strathglass]

John disconnect the ball joint at the gearbox lever. It should then be relatively easy to determine whether the problem is with the morse control/cable or the gearbox selector.

 

[Twister_Ken]

I've just removed the Morse control (model MV2) from my boat. I think it is an original fitting, so is 20 years old. Had the same sort of problems - not always finding neutral, sticky, stif, etc.

On opening up the box behind the control lever I found a mass of old, now hard, grease plus a plenty of salt, considerable corrosion of the aliminium 'cogs' which interconnect the throttle and the gear shift, and a couple of badly worn nylon bushes.

Took it home, did my best to clean it up, lubed it and reassembled. Spares appear not to be widely available. It's now better than it was, but still less than smooth. So a new one is on the cards.