Went down to my boat today for the first time since Covid. My shifter Morse cable won't move, but my throttle one right next to it is fine. I sprayed some WD 40 on it, but no change. Any ideas on how to free it up?

I think you’re already on the right track. WD40 and patience. Soak it, work it. Lather rinse repeat.

Yup. Penetrating lube

Pick up a replacement cable sometime. If it’s starting to rust internally it’s only a matter of time before it breaks

I had one break midway into a delivery from Tacoma to Seattle. Docking was a little sporty


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Why am I picturing a big cable on the bottom of the ocean, and people tap-tap-tapping on both sides of the Atlantic . . . ?

Take it off and hang it up so the lube will run down faster.

Replace it because eventually it will fail when you need it most.

Definitely replace. Do them both. They've been exposed to the same conditions and it's a matter of time before the other sticks too. Even if you free it up it is likely to stick again. Wd40 will only penetrate maybe a few inches if you're lucky.

You don't want to mess around and get put in a bad situation due to not replacing a cheap control cable....at least I wouldn't.

Bonus will be a smoother shift and throttle than you're used to.

Have you checked the gearbox to make sure it’s still able to shift? My folks snapped the cable on their Grand Banks due to a frozen gearbox. The cable itself was fine until my dad tried to force it to shift from his flybridge controls

I was able to free up the cable yesterday by using a screw clamp to gently move it from the frozen position into forward. Once that happened I was able to observe the shifter moving into and out of forward & reverse, albeit grumpily. I extended the cable as far as it'd go inside the engine housing, then squirted PB Blaster onto the sleeves and worked the shifter back & forth (did this for the throttle cable as well, even though it's working just fine). It's definitely shifting better, but still grumpy, although it's never actually shifted easily since I installed it many years ago, so I'm not sure how to qualify it. It's a linear shifter, and I can't get to the cable end inside it without some disassembly (that I'm not sure how to go about). So, what I did was lay it out flat and fill up the opening well with PB Blaster and let it work itself around the sliding tubes that make up the shifter. I did that 3-4 times, then upended its so all the penetrating oil will move toward the bottom of the shifter where the connections are and hopefully into that end of the Morse cable. By the time I left yesterday, it was shifting... OK, still takes more force than I like.

I'm going to write to the company to find out what the replacement cable is. I'm relatively sure they're going to try to sell me a whole new shifter assembly, but we'll see.

You can also zip tie a baggy into a funnel shade and raise that end up high and then fill it with 30wt and begin to work the cable in and out from the lower end drawing in the oil from the higher end until you see oil in the cable extending from the lower end/cable housing.

I would run it as long as you get it freed up and smooth.

I replace them when they show cracks in the outer red/black plastic covering. This is usually a sign of moisture in the cable freezing and fracturing the integrity of the housing.

The last one I replaced I just took the old one to Fisheries Supply in Seattle and they matched it up to the new one. I doubt Worst Marine has the knowledge to do the same but you might get lucky

There should be a number on it somewhere towards one of the ends

Apparently Teleflex/Morse got bought by SeaStar, which got bought by Dometic

Here's a cross reference chart:
https://www.go2marine.com/morse-teleflex

That's very handy, thanks! I like going to Fisheries anyway, always fun to browse around, plus I get a nice discount through my marina.

I went down to the boat yesterday and tried to free up the sticking cable. I got it working "better", but still very sticky, so opted to just replace it. I removed it, and brought it to Fisheries Supply this morning. Although the cable they were able to replace it with wasn't an exact match to the original, the replacement cable I could move with the slightest touch on either end, nothing like the original. I bought two of the cables, I've already used one to replace the shifter linkage, and I have a spare for when the throttle one goes south too. With my marina discount, it was just over $60 for both cables, pretty happy with that.

Other than the standard lose the hitch pin and cable nut down into the bowels of the cowling of the outboard, it went pretty well (I found and got the nut, no idea where the pin is, I bought a bunch of new ones). I think my biggest problem is I might have gotten a bit too much sun even with my hat & sunscreen on.

Oh, and on the original cables, there are no markings, anywhere. That's the first thing the guy at Fisheries did, was go over the cable looking for a number. Nada. The new cables do though, very prominent white lettering on black cable, so it's easy to see.

That is a great amount to spend on a fix when dealing with anything marine related - well done!

Yeah, usually any kind of fix to a boat is expensive. This one cost me less than $100, introduced me to a new hardware store (Stoneway Hardware, a real live old-timey hardware store in Wallingford, well worth the trip if you need hardware), got my boat working properly again, and the only extra cost was a bit of sunburn even with sun screen and a hat on.

Maybe next weekend I can actually go crabbing...