Drive alignment & Rear engine mounts not flush

[ba5e]

After lifting back in one of the two Mercruiser 262CID V6's in my SeaRay I was having trouble getting the alignment tool into the coupler. after investigation I found that I had missed the two spring washers between the transom plate mounts and the flywheel cover engine mounts. I´ve since installed them and torqued the bolts to 40 lb ft. but the washer is not compressing and the mounts are not as close as the adjacent engine. Bolts tighten rapidly and are loose beforehand. Alignment tool won't go in even after moving the gimbal bearing around and moving the front mounts all the way up or down. Can clearly see that the engine coupler splines are not in the right place when peering down from the gimbal bearing side, Ideas what to do?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Just why did you remove the motors?
The pic is correct in respect to the location and height of the components. The confusing part is the bolts tighten rapidly. The nuts are Ny-Loc type and should not just spin up by hand, there should be some resistance

 

[alldodge]

Loosen the top nuts on the front motor mounts (they probably already are.

Lift the front of the motor by the thermostat housing lift ring so all weight is off the front mounts. Bring the lower nuts up to the bottom of the mounts until they just touch by hand. Lower front of the motor on the mounts and remove lift.

Now start adjusting the mounts up or down the equal amount of turns on each side, and recheck. Place the alignment bar in then smack the end of the bar with your hand up/down/left/right a couple times to center the gimbal bearing. Judge if it needs to go further up or down and repeat equal adjustment, then repeat the alignment bar and smack around

 

[ba5e]

Just why did you remove the motors?
The pic is correct in respect to the location and height of the components. The confusing part is the bolts tighten rapidly. The nuts are Ny-Loc type and should not just spin up by hand, there should be some resistance

Only one, rust from a long time ago causing a hole in the sump. I'll check the nylocks are in good nick

 

[ba5e]

Loosen the top nuts on the front motor mounts (they probably already are.

Lift the front of the motor by the thermostat housing lift ring so all weight is off the front mounts. Bring the lower nuts up to the bottom of the mounts until they just touch by hand. Lower front of the motor on the mounts and remove lift.

Now start adjusting the mounts up or down the equal amount of turns on each side, and recheck. Place the alignment bar in then smack the end of the bar with your hand up/down/left/right a couple times to center the gimbal bearing. Judge if it needs to go further up or down and repeat equal adjustment, then repeat the alignment bar and smack around

Good idea, so re-set the engine entirely in the hull, have no lift now but will think of something!

 

[rickasbury]

so, I will soon be going through this myself as my motor is out of the boat. I undid the motor mounts from the hull and I removed my transom assembly completely so will be starting from scratch. So when I put the motor back in, I don't know that the shop will do all this, at least with out charging me through the butt, not that they would not deserve their pay for services. Point is, so if they just set it back in there and throw the back bolts in if it has to be aligned I can do what you described above but adjusting the front mounts- I don't have to actually lift the motor but just adjust as I see fit, correct?

 

[rickasbury]

And there has to been some balance between centering the bearing and adjusting the motor and I so I assume that just comes with experience I don't have...at what point to you stop banging that bearing around and adjust the front mounts? I know when my buddy did mine after the gimbal bearing, he put some grease on the front spline and tapped it in with a rubber mallet and we could see by the "smearing' of the grease how the alignment was going- but before the bearing was "adjusted", I could not get the out drive in. Must be an art to it...

 

[alldodge]

I don't have to actually lift the motor but just adjust as I see fit, correct?

You can start from there and can get it correct, but the issue is your replacing the transom assembly. Doing this also has a possibility of one side of the assembly being a tad lower/higher then it was when first removed. In any case you can adjust one side and tad more then the other, then you get into the twist issue as the OP was probably in to.

In any case there is another method but you need another tool so you can visualize what is happening. Its tool 91-863372

https://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...e-tried-sooner

 

[rickasbury]

great, another tool I will never use! I am hoping, since I have not cleaned the crud off the outside transom, I will be able to see where the gimbal sat against the transom and pretty much get it back in the same place. Did not mean to jack this thread, hopefully it helps the guy that started it!

 

[scoflaw]

8" piece of 1" bar stock inserted into the coupler will give you a good visual.

 

[ba5e]

Loosen the top nuts on the front motor mounts (they probably already are.

Lift the front of the motor by the thermostat housing lift ring so all weight is off the front mounts. Bring the lower nuts up to the bottom of the mounts until they just touch by hand. Lower front of the motor on the mounts and remove lift.

Now start adjusting the mounts up or down the equal amount of turns on each side, and recheck. Place the alignment bar in then smack the end of the bar with your hand up/down/left/right a couple times to center the gimbal bearing. Judge if it needs to go further up or down and repeat equal adjustment, then repeat the alignment bar and smack around

I've re-set the motor on the mounting GS, even loosening and realigning the mounts into the transom. Seems even after tightening everything g down again and adjusting the front mounts in no closer .Here are some pictures

 

[alldodge]

This doesn't look right, the spring washer should be much closer then that

 

[Bt Doctur]

AllDodge , it looks like the rear bushing is not seated fully, dont see the spring.
ba5e, did you replace the rear bushings?

 

[ba5e]

AllDodge , it looks like the rear bushing is not seated fully, dont see the spring.
ba5e, did you replace the rear bushings?

Nope, rear bushings untouched, or so I remember. If I take the bolt out, I should be able to see if its in the correct position yes? ps, attached is a link to the video showing the alignment, turn volume down!

 

[Bt Doctur]

remove the bolt, washer and spacer . The bushing should be at the very top of the housing
Or try to raise the motor and remove the spring and fiber washer to get a clear pic of the bushing.

 

[Bt Doctur]

 

[ba5e]

Removed the mounting bolts, lifted the rear of the engine and took some photos. The bushing sticks out a fair bit as you can see

 

[ba5e]

Hi all, based on the photos above, how would I realign the rear mount bushings and is that likely to be the cause?

 

[alldodge]

There are no instructions, BT would be the best to advise, but they should be flush. This way, when the fiber washer and spring washer is installed, then should be even with fiber washer thickness

 

[ba5e]

Bt Doctur Ok thanks for the tip alldodge, looking forward to getting into the water so hope bt can help me.