Belt Squeals with Trim Adjust - 2005 3.0L SX

H2O DVL

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Not necessarily. What I've proved is that it is related to the end-play I have in the crank. What I haven't solved is why it's only evident when I'm trimmed in, and silent when I'm trimmed out. The outdrive comes off tomorrow...
 

jimmbo

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A bad diode in the rectifier bridge can throw enough load on the alt to cause slippage and an assortment of noises. Operating the power trim pump will certainly put a load on the Alt. Since it is a serpentine belt, is the tensioner free, and is its bearing good?
 

mikeneal

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That's alotta end play. I wonder if the spines are stuck to the coupler and loading the heck outta the crank when trim changes. Keep us posted, this is weird one.
 

H2O DVL

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That's alotta end play. I wonder if the spines are stuck to the coupler and loading the heck outta the crank when trim changes. Keep us posted, this is weird one.

That's my suspicion too. Contrary to what others think it is NOT an electrical load on the alternator; unplugging it makes no difference.
 

jimmbo

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When was the last time the engine alignment was checked? As suggested, pull the drive, check the alignment and also check for a binding u-joint.
 
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H2O DVL

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You have changed the serpentine belt right?

Yes, serp. belt was changed 1/2 way through the season. Little to no difference.

Pulled the drive yesterday and things look really good. U-joints are clean, smooth with no signs of any water intrusion. Gimble bearing looks fairly new (this is my first season with this boat), either that or it has very little use on it. Again, lots of grease and no signs of water intrusion. The drive splines looked a little drier than I would have expected them to be, so I guess the excess grease form the gimble won't get in there. They weren't rusty, but what grease was there looked old and kind of clumpy. Maybe things were binding a little???

The drive alignment was out slightly, so I tweaked the mounts just a bit to bring things as close to perfect as they are going to get.
 

mikeneal

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Maybe rig up a water hose to the inlet at the transom and run it without a drive . You could still cycle the trim pump and just let the rams move freely.
 

bruceb58

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Maybe rig up a water hose to the inlet at the transom and run it without a drive . You could still cycle the trim pump and just let the rams move freely.

You could keep the drive on, disconnect the rams and lift the drive up and down to see if it is totally independent of the power draw. I would pull the prop before doing this with the engine running.
 

H2O DVL

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You could keep the drive on, disconnect the rams and lift the drive up and down to see if it is totally independent of the power draw. I would pull the prop before doing this with the engine running.

That's not a bad idea at all!

Another thought I had was that there was too much grease applied to the splines (at some point) and it's forming a hydraulic lock as the shaft slides in when trimming in/down. I see there's O-rings on the shaft which could create a positive seal. What I don't know is the hub that the shaft splines into a sealed unit, or is it open on the inboard end (which obviously would kill my theory)?
 

bruceb58

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Was thinking about this more today. I actually don't think the shaft moves at all in and out of the coupler as the drive tilts. The way the pivot housing works, it does not pull on the shaft. The pivot point is at the center of the shaft between the 2 u-joints.

If it was actually pulling when it was tilting then it would be doing the same thing when turning. So does it squeal when you turn? I assume you do not have power steering right?
 

H2O DVL

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Actually yes, the boat has P/Steering. And now that you mention it, it does "chirp" if I go port / starboard with the wheel (beyond about 180 degrees). Not severely, but it's there.

I tend to agree with you Bruce. After pulling things apart and now having a better idea how things align, I doubt if there's much if any movement on those splines...
 

jimmbo

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You are right that seems like a large amount of crank end play

To accurately measure that the engine has to come out. Not too much more work, since the drive is already off.

Edit: Depending how the boat was put together(sometimes the blasted manufacturer installs the engine before putting the cap on the hull), it could be more than I originally thought
 

H2O DVL

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Well, after a long winter and finally getting a chance to work on the boat this spring I've finally gotten rid of the dreaded belt chirp. The crank is definitely walking a little more than it should, but I'm not too concerned about it since a little extra clearance in the thrust bearings isn't going to have any immediate detrimental effect.
I ended up putting 4 small washers behind the waterpump pulley to extend the pulley out/forward about 0.5mm. Just enough to bring it in line with the crank pulley and prevent the belt from walking sideways on the tensioner.
I'm still not sure why it only seemed to chirp when the trim was in/down, but after getting it in the water this past weekend and getting some time behind the wheel all is nice and quiet. Not much of a solution, I know, but I just couldn't leave this thread open-ended. Now on to the next project; figuring out why my steering suffers from morning sickness...
 
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