1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

IRecently rebuilt the 5.7 in my 1996 Celebrity 190 with alpha 1 gen II 1.62 outdrive.

After engine was installed and aligned, the outdrive was installed. It got a new bellows kit, lower shift cable, gimbal bearing, u-joints, and the roller bearings on the input shaft.

After a few issues I got the engine running good. (originally had the t-stat installed in the wrong order with a plastic spacer which caused an overheat and a replacement head due to a crack.)

Anyways I had the boat out running good for three trips, but wanted to experiment with props. Had a 17P and installed a 21. From the start it didn't like it, but the engine was running fine just wouldn't get up in RPM.

Well at this point I developed a small oil leak that I chased back to the rear seal on the intake. Pulled down the intake, cleaned and remade the joint with some black permetex. I installed the distributor and set base time to 10BTDC while on the muffs.

She sounded good below 1000RPM but at 1200 I get a loud sound coming from the outdrive. It sounds like a fast ratcheting sound. It sounds this way in neutral and in fwd/rev.

Also with engine off and in gear either fwd/rev if you spin the prop by hand it will lock one way but the way it rotates it will have a ratcheting sound. (You can look at the shift lever and see it moving as it ratchets.)

I read this post: http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=492872 and they mention having the lower a spline off?? What does this mean and could this be my issue? When installing I placed the shift lever straight forward and slid the lower in. didn't figure that anything else had to be timed and slightly rotated the prop until everything slid home.

I guess my questions are :
(1) engine not running in gear should there be a ratchet sound when rotating the prop one way but it locking the other?
(2) Do I need to rework my lower end? And ,if yes, how do I make sure I'm not a tooth out of alignment like what is discussed in the above referenced post?

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

1. yes

2. possibly, did you set rolling torque on the new bearing set in the upper, and check the drive gear height (shimming)??
-did you properly adjust the new shift cable??

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

1. Yes, this is normal
2. Not sure, Did you check the oil plug for deposits? It's a magnet so if your getting this much noise from a damaged gear there might be some metal there.

It could be shift cable is way out of alignment.

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

I did set rolling preload on the bearing, IIRC it was 4-6lbs. I did not check the shims, as I did not have the tool. I know this was an error on my part, the bearings measured the same thickness, but of course this doesn't take into account that all the parts were pressed back to the same exact spot.

I did drain some oil for a sample and found a very small amount of fine powder at the drain. I didn't think it was excessive. No water was present, and lube looked new.

As for the shift cable, the only adjustment that was made was to set the distance from the eyelet to the barrel at 6" ran through the checks for the upper shift cable and all looked good. Nuetral cutout roller stayed centered.

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

Pull top cap and check you uppers.

Coupler was checked, aligned and greased upon reinstall?

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

Yes, alignment was checked and adjusted. I adjusted it to the point that the alignment bar slid in with virtually no resistance. I greased the splines and installed the upper.

I hauled her to a shop last evening as I am getting to frustrated to continue working on it.

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

Is the outdrive all the way up, in the trailer position, when you reved up the motor? This position puts a tons of strain on the U-joints when running, and when you rev it up it will make some racket / noise.

Re: 1996 Mercruiser Alpha 1 genII rattle

Yes, I did have the engine up in trailer, I had forget to lower it. It never ran above idle when in this position. Once I remembered I did lower it. Only once lowered was it reved up to 1500.