Velvet Drive neutral safety switch: where it is and how it works

1017-004 Velvet Drive

What it does

Velvet Drive builds the interlock into the transmission itself: the engine can't start unless the shift lever is in the neutral detent. Chris points to the exact spot on a 1017-004 heading to Florida: "at the shift lever, that's where the neutral safety switch goes."

Where it is: the tab and the notch

Inside the case, a small tab at the selector-valve bore clicks into a notch, and that's what works the switch. Chris sees the tab snapped off during reassembly often enough that he calls it routine: someone reassembles the unit and breaks the little tab for the neutral safety switch, and it "happens all the time."

1017-004 core Tear down

On the factory parts list this is the neutral switch assembly, 10-00-640-004, a 9/16-18 threaded part. Hale stocks it as 1000-640-004 ($66.25).

Old-style vs. current switches

The switch has changed shape over the decades, so it's one more way to date an old transmission. Chris has come across a large old-style switch he traces back to the 1960s, and another old style he places around the early 1970s to 1960s. Go back far enough and there's no switch at all: one AS1-71CR was so old it never had a neutral safety switch from the factory, so he left it off rather than adding one that was never there.

AS7-72CR 1.91 Borg Warner Velvet Drive

A CR-2 (1013/1014) is its own case. Several parts don't interchange with a cast-iron 71/72, and the neutral safety switch is one of them, along with the clutches, pump, input shaft seal and selector valve.

If the engine won't start

A bad neutral safety switch, or a shift lever that isn't fully seated in the neutral detent, can keep an otherwise good engine from cranking. Make sure the lever is all the way into the neutral detent first. Some boats also run a second lockout switch at the remote control shifter in addition to the one on the transmission, so check both ends. Wiring and starter-circuit diagnosis past that point is boat and engine specific; call us and we'll walk through it with you.

Related reading

• Shift cable check
• Creeping neutral and selector valve problems

When to call

If your engine won't crank or you need a replacement switch, call (804) 333-3677, Monday through Friday 9 to 3 Eastern, or email sales@halemarine.com.