Transmission Shifting

[challenger1949]

My friend has an 87 Catalina 30ft with a Universal 3 cylinder diesel. We just replaced the shifter cable. Before we hooked the cable at the trans we tried shifting at the trans with the engine running and it took a lot of effort. With the cable attached it goes into gear easily but nearly impossible to get out of gear. If you pull hard enough it chokes the engine. The boat was recently acquired and has not been run under the current owner.
Thanks for your suggestions

[tkeithlu]

What is the status of the lubricating oil in the transmission? My Universal has a generator attached to it, so I'm not familiar with the transmission. I'm inclined to suspect that you are going to end up rebuilding it, but old oil, no oil, and not enough oil are starting points.

[Cat36Mahalo]

Change the fluid till it’s still red after an hour of running. Remember it’s ~300ml of ATF

It should be as easy to go into neutral as going into gear. Check idle speed (with optical tach - not the tach on you panel) if too high it can cause hard shifts.

[challenger1949]

Thanks for your replies. I'll check this out.

[challenger1949]

My thought was the clutch is improperly adjusted and placing a load on the trans making it difficult to shift out of gear. If that is the case wouldn't it make it difficult to shift into gear?

[bwindrope]

Definitely an issue with the oil or more serious gear problems. The fact that forcing it causes the engine to stall means the transmission alone is bound up enough to not spin. I would fear the transmission is toast. Like others say I would second the notion to first check the current oil level, if you haven't, and then change the fluid. If the current level is fine and the fluid is not totally black, it is probably not the fluid and is something more seriously wrong in the gearbox. If you are lucky, you are momentarily low on fluid and adding the proper amount fixes it. I would not be too hopeful about that.

As a diagnosis, what is it like to shift with the engine off? It should be smooth. Good luck.