Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Hey guys. I have the sticky, it's not helping me. I have a 3.0 mercruiser paired with a MR Alpha 1. I'm putting these into a new(er) boat. It should all fit according to Don from threads a few months ago.

Here's where I am. The engine is in, and the rear bolts are tightened. The front mount is currently not bolted to the hull because the previous owner glassed over that stringer and I don't have holes to bolt to yet. I'm assuming before I can properly follow the sticky instructions for alignment, which all deal with moving the front up or down, I need to secure the horizontal. How is this done when the alignment bar is only able to get into the shaft with forceful taps? Especially now that the $&%~ tool is stuck in there and I can't get it out. I'm at my wits end here, and need help. Thanks guys!

Do I need to start with loosening the rear mounts in an attempt to readjust and at least get the tool out? Has anyone else had trouble figuring out the horizontal alignment part?

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Being that the front mount height may have changed some (higher) from the glassing I`d lower the engine a bit and try to remove the alignment bar. I use a new input shaft that has the ears machined off and is undercut 1/8 inch where the gimbal bearing rides.Inserted into the coupler it gives a visual as to where the motor has to move. A 1/8 inch welding rod or brazing rod is used to "rough " the alignment in ,then use the bar for final alignment

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Definitely still need help here. I've just run through the entire range of the front alignment bolt beginning at the lowest point and running it all the way up to the point where I even removed the two lower nuts to stretch the range. The alignment tool will not slide into the splines at any point in that travel. It seems to be making contact at about 10-11 o'clock. Do I need to somehow change the level of the rear bolts, i.e. add/remove a washer?

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

I think that the idea is to keep the motor attached to the hoist to get the general alignment before using the bolts to make fine adjustments. That being said, I would be curious to see the set up you have. Can you take pictures of the mounts and maybe a side view of the motor? I'm not an expert but I may be able to help you think it through just did this with my boat and I am one thing...available. Have you verified that you have installed the rear mount bolts properly? Do you have any reason to think that the transom is not within flatness/paralell specs? Does the front mount area look way off level when viewing from the side? I'll help if I can.

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Proper order of the bolts/washers

https://www.mercruiserparts.com/Show_Pictures3.asp?dnbr=99964&ivar=images/COMMON/18759.png&inbr=2203&bnbr=20&bdesc=TRANSOM+PLATE+AND+SHIFT+CABLE

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Here's the rear bolts. Am I missing washer 13 maybe on that diagram?

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Joe,
I took a look at the manual and my bolts. Yours are sitting considerably higher than mine do. This could possibly be the camera angle but in my case, the spacers are seated in the holes of the flywheel housing.

I think your problem is that the double wound lockwasher that looks like a spring goes under the flywheel cover mounts although the parts picture makes it look like it should go on top of it. Check out the picture out of the manual.

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?



Maybe this is better to see.

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Yes, your rear mounts are not set up properly. As gator said, the double wound spring washers sit between the two mounting surfaces. not on top as yours are. Also, there is a fiber washer that sits around the double wound spring washer that I don't see at all in your pic. you need these. install all this, torque down, and suspend the front of the engine and adjust until the alignment bar goes in. torqueing the rear mounts, when properly installed sets the engines right and left direction. the front hoist just adjusts the tilt of the engine up and down. you still need to set the gimbal bearing as described in the stickys. the gimble bearing swivels on its outer ring, and after the bearing is installed, the angle of the bearing can be moved, to align with the coupler. then you can adjust the engine up and down with the front hoist. after you get the alignment bar to go in, then drill your lag holes for your front motor mounts. if the stringers were. Installed in the right spot, the mount should be centered and have enough adjustment to fine tune your alignment. (not all stringers are done correctly,) and this could be a problem for you, but you wont know until you do all these steps. with the double wound washer in the wrong position, that could be why you are out of adjustment range with your mounts (the rear of the engine is too low).

summary: fix your rear mount issues, then set your gimbal bearing, then use your hoist to lift/lower engine until alignment bar goes in, with only the palm of your hand to help it go in, with the engine still hanging on the front hoist, mark where your motor mount hits the stringer, drill your lag bolts (straight!), then do the fine tuning of the height with the motor mount nut until the alignment bar goes in easy. rotate engine through 90 degree turns to check alignment torque front mount, double check alignment. hope this helps!

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Thanks guys! I can't wait to get back at it in the morning!

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Ok, I've been at this all day. I finally got the alignment bar sliding in and out with little pressure as it entered the splines. After many adjustments, I finally got my first repeatable, totally even spline marks on the rod. So I went ahead and installed the screws on the bottom of the front mount to the stringer. Checked again and all was good. Then I found issues. I turned the flywheel 90 clockwise as you're facing stern, and checked. Top and bottom look close, but east and west look off. I adjust the front to get things in line and get very, very close to exactly even all the way around, but I notice that the bar isn't sliding in quite as easily. I have to bump it around a bunch to try and find that sweet spot again where it slides easily. Get it, and get decent alignment again, finally, so I rotate another 90 and the exact same thing happens. Top and bottom look very good, but east and west are off. This shouldn't be happening.

Has anyone ever had this happen? What about the ease of the alignment bar... I feel like I can't get it to be perfectly aligned so that it truly does slide in easily, and it doesn't seem to stay there if I do get it right. What am I doing wrong?

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Make sure you have not bumped gimbal bearing . If you hit bearing with too much force, it will get it out of align and drive you NUTS. Been there!

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Once you get really close forget the grease marks put the adjustment where you get the easiest insertion. that is the goal

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Agree with tank and 84. If you try to get every grease mark 100% you can be there a long while also been there.

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Thanks guys!

Re: Alignment issues. Start with horizontal?

Buck! Something else! My buddy and I had a horrible time getting MC350 aligned a month or so back. I had replaced rotted transom and suspected that I had made one side too think (desn't take much) , because we could NOT get the the shaft to come out easy. It would go in very easy but then appeard to be hanging onto somethng. We hadn't replaced or bumped gimbal. When we extracted alignment tool, teeth marks on grease looked fairly even. We believe problems was that I may have pumped too much grease into couple and I was inadvertently setting up too much sucking when trying to remove tool. This motor has 0 viberation. Now, I hust have to figure out an electric fuel pump issue.