How to adjust Morse Controls?

[Fascadale]

Following the advice from this thread about my gearbox problems I may have found what might be the problem.

When I move the throttle leaver forward it moves the lever on the gearbox downwards but it is only when the throttle is well forward that the gearbox lever is fully depressed.

The clamps holding the outer part of the cable are tight but it looks as if there are adjustments that can be made at either end. The metal rod is threaded and there is a lock nut.

As a somewhat hamfisted person with little confidence in my mechanical abilities I would appreciate any guidance as to what the next step should be. I'm terrified of making things worse.

Thanks

 

[scottie]

Inboard engine controls should have the gear fully engaged before opening the throttle

Which control do you have ?

 

[Fascadale]

Single lever, black with a red button to put it into neutral and the letters TFX on it. The "T" is a sort of fancy "T". Other than some little round bumps moulded onto the top of the lever there is nothing else to identify it. The lever is greyish and the squarish plate a bit lighter

 

[alahol2]

These may be the instructions for your controls.

 

[Fascadale]

These may be the instructions for your controls.

Thanks.

They look very similar, I shall have to try to make some sense of them.

I had fancied a night out exploring the hot spots of Gosport and Portsmouth but now I have some homework to do.

 

[Norman_E]

In any single lever control the first movement of the lever from the central (neutral ) position has to engage the gear, only after that should the throttle begin to open. In practice this means that moving the end of the lever about 1.5 to 2 inches from the cemtral position puts my gearbox into gear, and only after that does the engine begin to rev up. How that is achieved is that the throttle cable has quite a bit of free play before it begins to advance the injection pump control lever (on a diesel engine although we can say "open the throttle" and call the cable the throttle cable, in fact there is no throttle and what we do is increase the fuelling via the injection pump.) What you probably need to do is increase the free play in your throttle cable.

 

[scottie]

If it is he TX control as it seems then check that the gear cable is in he outer hole which gives the most travel

Put the gearbox in neutral with the cable disconnected the fit the cable and ensure the brass pivot lines up with the hole in the arm with the control in neutral
disconnect the connection at the gearbox and select forward gear at the gearbox put the control into forward and ensure the connection drop in .

 

[nimbusgb]

As someone has said, check that the gearbox cable is on the correct arm. The throttle is the one that goes straight up the centre of the unit via a sliding joint, the gearbox connects to an arm off centre of the unit and the cable outer is firmly locked in place.
The trick is in getting the adjustment on the cable on the sliding joint - the throttle cable. Make sure there's no slop and play in the the gear cable and then make the throttle cable control box end as long as necessary to push the sliding joint out as far as possible. The section of cable from its attachment on the bellcrank to the sliding joint notch should be in compression holding the sliding joint as near to fully extended as possible. As the lever is moved forward and backward the sliding joint takes up the motion without any motion being transferred to the cable inner section. If the gearbox is still not engaging well before the point where the throttle cable starts to work you can try moving the gearbox end of the gear cable closer to the pivot point or the control end of the cable to a hole further out on it's lever.

I spent almost a day figuring all this out, finally got my head around it all and now low speed maneuvering is no longer a challenge!

 

[VicS]

Single lever, black with a red button to put it into neutral and the letters TFX on it. The "T" is a sort of fancy "T". Other than some little round bumps moulded onto the top of the lever there is nothing else to identify it. The lever is greyish and the squarish plate a bit lighter

Is that Teleflex

If so there are some manuals on their website. Click the name above then the Support tab.

There are also some Hurth manuals here

Looking at a different gearbox and control recently the key to adjustment seemed to be to adjust the gear shift cable so that the lever was in the neutral position when the gearbox was in the neutral position.

 

[Bilgediver]

Thanks.

They look very similar, I shall have to try to make some sense of them.

I had fancied a night out exploring the hot spots of Gosport and Portsmouth but now I have some homework to do.

One thing to bear in mind is that the morse throttle cable SHOULD NOT be used as the method for controlling tickover. Both tickover and top revs should be set using the quadrant screws on the engine governor housing.

It could be that the free play was taken out of the throttle linkage to stop the engine running too slowly or stalling. The tickover is set by the appropriate screw at the speed lever on the engine.

As others have said the engine should first engage gear and only then should the speed be increased.

 

[Favonius]

Where can I find documentation on Morse throttle controllers? I have one on my sailboat, but I can't find a model name. It has an all black handle, with no visible external buttons knobs or buttons to press for neutral throttle advance. It will no longer disengage the gear shift so I can advance the throttle in neutral. I assume the entire level pulls horizontally out by the "shaft". Somehow that is stuck. Advice? I just bought it so I have no experience with this boat.