Tiller Shift Cable Setup

[Bob Ranney]

I recently installed new powerhead and exhaust gaskets in my 94 Mercury 20 tiller shift manual start outboard. (Serial no. 0D282738) Thought we had it all together correctly, but during today's trial run it broke a shift cable. It started off working fine, but after about an hour of fishing - backtrolling, so lots of shifts from neutral to reverse - it refused to go into forward gear and, ultimately the shift cable broke, though I didn't put all that much force into trying to shift.

Long story short, I need to install new shift cables. I know the part number, and have a schematic, but it doesn't help at all with just how the cables should be installed. (i.e. How they should be inserted into the pulley slots - which first, which wrapped around the block mounted pulley, which top, which bottom, etc. to avoid what happened today.) Can anyone provide a good description of how to install them and know they are set up correctly? Is there some kind of instruction manual/video, etc. available I can use to learn how to properly install these cables?

A second question arose. The ordering schematic shows four nuts (M6) next to the cables and the picture is not distinct. My old cable has four cylindrical ends that are integral to the cable. Do I need to buy the four nuts for use with the replacement cables or will they come with integral ends like my original cables?


Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

[boats.net]

The new cable should come with the nuts, however if it does not you can use the original nuts. I don't have access to pictures or routing locations. Just route with the least resistance. Most likely the cable breaking is coincidence.