Need help with Mercury OB throttle cable adjustment?

Question

Controler side: I Have older Mercury controls with seperate idle throttle arm. The throttle cable seems bound up and is angled funny into the controls. When I gear up and throttle forward using shift arm, the throttle cable moves down (towards hull) like it is too tight. Opened controller box and it seems like the throttle cable is at a 30 degree up angle connecting to the arm (cables are plenty long).

Engine side: I have adjusted the cables according to the manual but still only get maybe half throttle which is perplexing because the shift into reverse seems really tight. Forward seems OK except I have to go all the way forward for half throttle. What do I need to do? I'm thinking; Tighten throttle and tighten shift but this causes angle on throttle to worsen get more bound up. Is there some other adjustment other than the barrels on the cable?

Answer 1

Here is a partial answer: The gear box has to lock the engine down when ever it goes from forward to neutral. This is done with the cross (trim) pin at the under side of the motor where the clamps finish up. Block the motor up a little and see if the two hooks that catch the cross pin are loose and moving when you move the throttle thru from forward to neutral .These hooks really suffer if the motor drops off a trailering bar when the shifter is in neutral or reverse.. Once this all works maybe your cable adjustment will take hold. And yes the brass barrels is the only adjustment for the control cable. There are other adjustments on the engine which should be left to the mercury mechanic with a lot of referance books.