Bill,
The plot thickens...turns out the spring was wedged into the hole, and the ball was actually retrieved this morning. I'm not sure why I didn't find it the other 7 times I looked, but..hey...
So, I seem to have all the parts, but they don't seem to go together. For the sake of discussion, there are two gears on the "back" of the unit (the half that connects to the cables), and 2 gears that go on the "front" of the unit (the part that mounts on the boat. The large gear on the "back" doesn't come off, and the small gear appears to only be able to go on one way (well, two, but they are symetrical). On the "front", the small gear appears to line up with the large gear in the back, and then the large gear (with the dimples) goes on top of that. The ball and spring are against the housing, not between the gears. (right?)
The question is that it seems like the flat part of the large gear on the front is too big...it seems like the gears can't engage...
I'm confusing myself and I'm looking at the damn thing.
I guess my question is, do you have any sketch, photo, diagram or anything about how those go on correctly, as something clearly isn't aligned, but no one seems to be able to figure out what.
Thanks for your help...this has become like the rubics cube for me, and I'm going crazy...
Teresa
