I'm not sure if this is the correct forum area but I'll give it a shot.
Yamaha OX66 225. Has a hot foot. This is a new-to-me boat. Over the weekend, I was on big water. Ran and performed great. Went to the dock, tied off and grabbed my truck. Got back in the boat, put in reverse to back away from dock to load. It went into reverse kind of strange. Like the shift control was stiff. Went to put it in forward and wouldn't go. Handle just wouldn't push forward. Loaded with the trolling motor. Got home and inspected.

I could shift the motor by hand with cable detached. The handle would shift with cable detached. Assumed it was maybe something catching inside the control so disassembled and inspected then put back together. All seems to be okay but...when looking it over, I noticed something.

When the cable is disconnected, the shift control seems to move much further forward (in forward gear) than the cable allows. There is a slot for the control. Without the cable connected, shifting in forward moves the guide pin all the way forward. With the cable on it only goes about 3/4 of the way forward. With reverse, it goes almost all the way with and without the cable connected. I took a couple of photos to try and clarify.

My question is: Should the forward position be adjusted? I did try to shorten the cable a bit to test but there is no adjustment left. It's adjusted as short as it will go.

It's tough to photograph but the image with my finger in it is with the shift cable connected an in forward gear. You can see space left in that guide. The second photo is with cable disconnected and you can how the guide is almost all the way forward.

Do I need to have the cable shortened? Or is it okay?

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