Won't go into forward gear, throttle tough to move... HELP!

[starks951]

Well folks... I finally tried to put my epic out on the water last monday night, unfortunately I could get it into reverse and off the trailer... but when I try to move it into forward throttle it doesn't engage... I get RPM's with a bit of effort, but no spinning prop... in addition to this problem I find that MOVING the throttle back and forth is very difficult... that being said I hope this is JUST a throttle control issue and not something serious... I can lift the ring that will put it past neutral no probs, but moving the lever back or forwards is tough... I took it to my local shop and said "my toy is broken please fix it"  they are 7-10 days out which gives me the weekend to tear into it myself and see what the problem is...

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing, I am not sure if this is a complex matter or not.. I am pretty handy and mechanically inclined, but taking apart things I don't understand scares me a bit... do we have any exploded diagrams of what this linkage should look like... or does someone want to give me a run-down...  if I need to replace this whole throttle setup does anyone know where I can get one (again this is last resort)..

I just want to go riding!!!
-K

[epic_toy]

My off the cuff would be to go right to where the throttle cable attaches to the engine. See if it's moving there. You may be able to isolate the problem at throttle or post connection to engine. Ever lubed the throttle cable? I think it's in the annual maintenance, but never done it or looked too closely at it myself. Not sure if that's any help!

[toyotafreak]

I haven't lubed it either, but yes, we're supposed to lube it and the steering cable occasionally.

Agree about looking around the intake manifold and seeing if it's moveable. Also, I personally would find the vendor of that baby and do some internet work on it - I bet there's some guides out there by Teleflex or whoever that mfr is.

As a reference, my shifting and steering are silky smooth (doesn't idel as smooth as it used to though).

[starks951]

Never lubed it... but yeah mine was silky smooth until this year... wonder if it got gummed up during storage this winter... I am going to try to muck around and see what I can find.... appreciate the thoughts on checking both near and far end of the cable assembly...

[Capt Rick]

Remove the connector on the engine and you may find that the cable end ball joint was either rusted or the cable is bent. You can order new cables but it takes an enginer to change it .

[masonlk]

If the ball joint rusted and you pulled on the handle too hard you'll bend the cable. Cleaned mine up with a fine wire brush and sprayed a bit of white lithium grease on it to keep the moisture out. I think we might be able to find stainless steel end ball joints to replace whatever is currently being used.

[lesman01]

MIght also look at the tranny linkage to see if that is frozen at the tranny...or somehow binding when going into forward. Let us know how it turns out.