Alignment help!

[Dawn Tolliver]

1971 silvercraft 140 mercruiser 3.0? 4 cyc. Cant seem to align boat moter with tool. Dropped front mount ALL the way down. Still needs to go lower. Upon looking found stringer bolts finger tight and to small, switching them to larger ones to fit mount holes. Also theres a 1/2 inch board under the mount. About the same I need to go down. Put a board under top of mount at deck level and stepped down on it. I moved the front of the moter up about an inch. So I should be able to slide board out no problem. Then when I rebolt it should give a better bite to. UNLESS SOMEONE! Can tell me how to lower my moter some other way? Looking in the coupling hole you see more of the top of it than the bottom. The tool no matter what adjustment wont go in more than 1/2 inch? Adjustment does not look like it changes even if I take it all the way high to low? Someone told me the A tool does not work on these older boats.That the tool only goes in so far. It's a 4184822 That maybe it's a Tr or Trs? Dont know much about boats to figure this out. Went on LINE but no help with alignment problems but all say the same thing. Adjust till tool fits. But dosnt go into details on how to do anything else to fix the problem. The stern was off for a year. Dont see how that can raise THE moter. Came off easy. No rot anywhere! If I take that board out will it screw up anything else? Help please want to save my summer!

 

[Rick Stephens]

Sounds like the transom is rotten and letting the rear motor mounts droop down.

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

Sounds like the transom is rotten and letting the rear motor mounts droop down.

Had inspected for ROT. None found. Could the year of the boat have caused them to sink and how can I adjust them up and how far?

 

[AShipShow]

it can be hard to tell what's going on by just looking... you really should unbolt the front mount and hang the motor by the front lifting eye and adjust the height with an engine hoist or chain fall or something until you get it aligned close and then see where you're at in the mount department...

That being said, I agree with Rick... rear mounts don't just slide down over time without rot... and front mounts don't just get taller over time...
Sounds like some more exploratory work needs done..

What did you do to check for rot?

 

[Rick Stephens]

Need to drill into transom wood down low, from inside, as close to bolts as you can get. Just far enough to get maybe halfway though. If the wood is mushy and soggy, you know your answer.

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

it can be hard to tell what's going on by just looking... you really should unbolt the front mount and hang the motor by the front lifting eye and adjust the height with an engine hoist or chain fall or something until you get it aligned close and then see where you're at in the mount department...

That being said, I agree with Rick... rear mounts don't just slide down over time without rot... and front mounts don't just get taller over time...
Sounds like some more exploratory work needs done..

What did you do to check for rot?

They checked the whole boat. The only thing I see throwing off the alignment is a board under the front mount. Like it was put in later? If I take that out I think it would make the front drop to where I can adjust up a hair and not have to go down as its reached bottoming out on the down adjustment. Is there supposed to be a board under the front mount. The lag bolts are to small for the metel holes and only finger tight. Getting bigger ones.

 

[AShipShow]

was there a drive on the boat when you got it? You wouldn't have gotten the drive off easily if it was out of alignment... so if there was a drive on, and you too it off and now you're saying its out of alignment by a lot, something isn't adding up.

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

it can be hard to tell what's going on by just looking... you really should unbolt the front mount and hang the motor by the front lifting eye and adjust the height with an engine hoist or chain fall or something until you get it aligned close and then see where you're at in the mount department...

That being said, I agree with Rick... rear mounts don't just slide down over time without rot... and front mounts don't just get taller over time...
Sounds like some more exploratory work needs done..

What did you do to check for rot?

They checked it not me. The whole boat I guess. Can I check this out on my own and how? You guys are so nice helping out US lost in the maze of boating. Like I still dont know what stern I have? Do you. Is it alpha pre alpha bravo tr trs?

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

was there a drive on the boat when you got it? You wouldn't have gotten the drive off easily if it was out of alignment... so if there was a drive on, and you too it off and now you're saying its out of alignment by a lot, something isn't adding up.

Yes there was. One lift and bump and it flew off! No binding nothing.

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

Need to drill into transom wood down low, from inside, as close to bolts as you can get. Just far enough to get maybe halfway though. If the wood is mushy and soggy, you know your answer.

It's a fiberglass boat. Is the transoms wood to under?

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

Need to drill into transom wood down low, from inside, as close to bolts as you can get. Just far enough to get maybe halfway though. If the wood is mushy and soggy, you know your answer.

Just for the fun of it. What could happen if it is rotten somewhat and what would be a fast easy fix? Dont mind the hard work just like the shortcuts!

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

Just for the fun of it. What could happen if it is rotten somewhat and what would be a fast easy fix? Dont mind the hard work just like the shortcuts!

Also would you not see the drive slipping down off of where it attaches to the hull?

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

Going to go check if iam just to low in the front and been doing things backwards. If not I'll hang THE moter literally! Lol Thanks for all the help I'll let you know how it works out! Dawn

 

[Scott06]

The rubber mounts in the flywheel cover can sag some if they are original check and see if they are fubar may need replacement due to age and dry rot.

I thought @kenny nunez mentioned cutting down the front mount on 3.0s he couldnt get aligned

 

[alldodge]

Having a 1971 you should have spring washer on top the rear mounts. Is it there?

The rear mounts may need to be replaced

Could also be the engine coupler is warped. Rotate the motor 90* to see if things change

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

They checked it not me. The whole boat I guess. Can I check this out on my own and how? You guys are so nice helping out US lost in the maze of boating. Like I still dont know what stern I have? Do you. Is it alpha pre alpha bravo tr trs?

The term stern refers to the back of the boat not the drive. You could use the terms: sterndrive, drive, outdrive to refer to the drive. Your drive should be a MC-1 model. There should be a round lift ring built into the top cover of the drive.

 

[tank1949]

Had inspected for ROT. None found. Could the year of the boat have caused them to sink and how can I adjust them up and how far?

I paid an incompetent marine surveyor for rot inspection, which has cost me 4 fnnnn years of rebuilding a 1986 SR. I suggest to drill 1/4" holes inside transom near assembly AND by drain hole. TRUST ME!!!!! If crap comes out or NO hard wood, get ready for a LONG job. Sorry!!!!!! If good, then just fill with 5200 and look for other issues. At least you will have peace of mind about rot. If you pulled motor (you didn't say initially) then you may have dislodged washer or spring or some other component (I have too) when reinstalling motor. Or, you may have bumped gimbal ring and tool is giving a faulty reading. (been there too)

 

[Dawn Tolliver]

Sorry been busy, but still have the same problem. Now the boats at a boat yard and they cant get the sterndrive ANY closer on then me. It stops about a inch from seating. My question would be is their a different alignment bar for I guess it's an 888 being from 1971 mercruiser. Every time, the bar hits the outside of THE coupling. I put the tool in a 1 inch pvc and it goes in fine. Try to put pvc over drive spline and it wont fit. To small? Took a wood dowel that fit INTO PVC tight, it fit into coupling NO problem and looked straight after it hit bottom? More questions than answers. Do I have the wrong bar? What's stopping it from going in the last inch? Splines are greased. Rings are oiled! Just put in new gimbal and bellows. Was told I dont need to put that c ring in front of the gimbal anymore as they got rid of it a few years later. But mines in. Was also told if gimbal was put in backwards it was no problem either? Which I noticed my friend did.Could this be the problem? Appreciate all the help guys. Thanks Dawn

 

[alldodge]

There isn't a different alignment bar but there can be a bad alignment bar.


The coupler is one inch and guessing the shop did not use your bar, then there is something wrong with your rear motor mounts, or the mounts don't have the spring washer installed, or something wrong with the coupler

If the engine has been rotated to see if that would help and it did not, then its not the coupler

 

[Rick Stephens]

If the alignment bar won't go in, that needs fixing. But if the alignment bar goes in but the drive doesn't, that's another. I have personally seen too much grease in the grooves in the drive shaft before the o-rings were installed. That pushes the o-rings out and keeps the driveshaft fron going through the gimbal bearing. So that's a possibility.

If the alignment bar won't insert, then there is an alignment problem that needs to be found. Whether a collapsed rear mount, a missing coil spring in the rear mount, a rotten transom, a bad front mount, something isn't right and nothing will fix that except getting the motor straight to the gimbal.