Outdrive wont go back in

I just bought a 1968 Starcraft Holiday with a Mercruiser 120hp i/o and the outdrive was off the boat. After replacing the bellows and the trim hoses I went to reinstall the outdrive but, I cant get the to go back on. It slides in but wont go in all the way, I tried putting the outdrive in gear and spinning the prop to get the splines to line up with the coupler but I cant get it go for any further. I heard a while back that the outdrives for the v8s have a longer shaft on them and im worried that it might be a v8 outdrive. Its a pre alpha and it says 120 on it any it seems like it has 2:1 gear ratio. Just two weeks ago I put the outdrive back on my sea ray and it went on without any problems. Any possibilities or tips?

Re: Outdrive wont go back in

Maybe an alignment issue?

Re: Outdrive wont go back in

I guess that makes a lot sense

Re: Outdrive wont go back in

If you don't have an alignment tool, do a search for em on ebay, can score one for less than 50.

If you have access to a lathe or know a machinist the specs for the tool are below.

Re: Outdrive wont go back in

Eric, where did you get the specs? Might be useful to have specs for other special tools as well. How do you know which drives that tool will work with?
- Martin

Re: Outdrive wont go back in

Specs from the Adults Only sticky at the top of the forum. It's chocked full of great info:

This was in the sticky under Miscelaneous Mercruiser Info:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=329915

It works for Mercruiser and OMC I believe, not sure about any others