Paragon transmission

[Tango75]

Greetings Cal Sailors,
I have seen some great posts on Paragon transmission and walters V-drive issues and I am adding another problem that I hope someone might have some ideas about solving. I have a 1975 Cal 34 in Juneau, Alaska and have had it for about 10 years. I've had some issues with the transmission slipping, but made the adjustment to tighten the mechanism and all was fine. However, I recently had a major issue with the cable control (a post for another day) and had to replace the cable. No problem getting the mechansims to 'click' now and I made two trips with no problems. However, on a trip last summer, the transmission started to overheat. I tightened it up and was able to make it home, but the box was definately getting hot. Also, there was a lot of noise from the shaft area and prop, so once I returned home I loosened it one notch. I did a sea trial last Fall and through a series of loosening and tightening figured out that once very loose (5 turns counter clockwise looking aft) the transmission slipped and I could only make 3 knots. After a series of tightening turns (clockwise looking aft), I was able to get 4,5,6, and finally about 6.5 knots, which is a reasonable speed for conditions at 1850 rpm. However, even though the transmission didn't appear to be slipping, the Paragon box was getting very hot. The Walters drive is not warm at all. So, I'm wondering if there is anything else to adjust or check if the Paragon isn't slipping but getting hot. And by hot, not able to touch the box! I am using the Type F transmission fluid. Any ideas would be appreciated, as I am going to work on it this weekend. Dave D'. Tango.

[Mary Mac]

Hi Dave, I just replied to your other post, but wanted to add that I also had to replace my shifter cable. I suspect that the old cable made it more difficult to get into gear, and caused the clutch plates extra wear. Mine got hot once when a friend picked it up for me, and it had issues ever since. I bet it was slipping, causing the heat.. then the plates were trashed. After that, I could only go about 3 knots (I don't have a tach) before it would start to slip.