New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

[Jonnybbad]

Today I joined the upper and lower of my new SEI 106 Alpha One and installed on my 1986 Century 3.0L bowrider. Prior to this I should also mention that I replaced the gimbal bearing and seal, shift cable, shift shaft bushings and seals (in the bellhousing). I also worked on adjusting the gimbal bearing alignment until the alignment tool slid easily into the engine coupler and the bearing was installed to the same depth as the old one. The old unit just slid right out of the bellhousing. This new unit was entirely another case. The upper would no longer push in and hung up at 1 1/16" from contacting the bellhousing. The upper shift shaft on the lower unit and the shoe on the bellhousing shift shaft mated up just fine. I removed the drive to check things out and that was a nightmare too. Ended up hooking up the trim cylinders and cutting scraps of 2x4 to fit in the gap on top between upper and bellhousing and raising the unit and that dislodged it. Could not find reason for it not going on. I talked to tech support and they told me it the o-rings were not making it into the gimble bearing and to "give it the mercruiser kick" and use more force. After this conversation I took some measurements and decided maybe they were right, so I proceeded to kick and push and got nowhere until I got out a three pound rubber mallet and a scrap piece of 4x4 lumber and beat the living hell out of the upper rear of the upper unit and eventually it did go all the way on. I feel that the effort to get the unit installed in my marine virgin opinion was WAY too much and wonder if this is normal? and could I have damaged anything? Is this alright? Thanks in advance for any info or advise you could provide me!

-Jon

 

[Bondo]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

Ayuh,... Did ya slather grease all over the shaft before ya stabbed it,..??

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

You betcha, I just greased the the whole ball a wax up good with spline grease from the end of the splines to to the first u-joint yolk. I'll also mention that when I did take the drive out I noticed a couple of rubber shavings that came off the first of the two o-rings nearest to the yolk.

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

Just remembered one more thought I had on this..... I read from a number of sources about which direction to install the gimbal bearing, mercruiser and seloc said notches forward, mercstuff.com said notches aft so you can replace just the bearing w/o carrier, which I don't plan to do it that way in the future, but like to have the option for access. And I read somewhere that mercruiser originally spec'd for notches aft, but wanted to "encourage" replacement of the carrier too, so thats the only reason the turned it around and it would work the same either way. So anyways getting to the point, I ended up installing with the notches aft and after I so tediously removed new the drive and inspected the new and old gimbal bearing, I came to the conclusion that the inner race appears to maybe possibly have a more gentle taper inward on the no notches side and maybe a tad more square on the notches side that I put outward. Is this true? and if so maybe that is the reason for at least part or maybe all of my difficulty? Once I drove the drive.... hehe.... past each o-ring it seems to become somewhat easier.

 

[snowman51789]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

Make sure your engine is alined. If its not it could be going in only sofar till it runs outta slack. One trick you could try is slop alot of grease on and I mean be messy. Then try to put it on, when it stops then take it out. If the slopped grease is smooth up to the o ring for example then that's your hang up if its some random spot on the shaft like let's say half way to the oring then id bet money you engine is out of alighnment. But I got a SEI last year for my 3.0 and I had to use the old oring cuz the new oring was a realy tight fit

 

[Bt Doctur]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

might be best to see if it still slides off,that could have been a misaligned gimbal bearing. It its very tight to remove ,then the engine alignment is still way off.

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

Oh..... Its not coming off without lots of swearing and time. I really do not want to even attempt to take that thing off at this point. I'd like to wait until the short summer here is over, that is if it is alright to run as it is anyways. I did check the alignment before originally attempting installation and after fighting to get it out to investigate again and the alignment tool slid right into the engine coupler with no resistance at all. I was able to verify that is had entered the engine coupler directly by sight and feel (Plenty of open space around engine coupler and transom to see and feel for it and it was in the middle and had indeed entered on its own free will) I had aligned it when I replaced the gimbal bearing. At the spot that I could no longer push the unit forward it was already an inch or a little more into the engine coupler by my measurements and there was no resistance up to that point, which leads me to believe that the alignment is not an issue and it may have something more to do with a tight fit between the gimbal bearing and the input shaft and o-rings. Is my logic faulty on this matter?

 

[Jonnybbad]

Re: New SEI Alpha One - too much force needed to install upper to bellhousing?

Turns out I didn't get the gimabal bearing and engine aligned right after all. I came to the conclusion I just could not leave it that way. I luckily found a posting here about using a 2x4 between the upper unit top cap and the gimbal ring, worked like a charm. I ran out to menards since I didn't have a large enough monkey wrench and I lowered the engine one or two turns on the adjusting nut, realigned the gimbal bearing and the drive slid back in in quite nicely. Thanks for the advise folks. Now I just have to get the cables adjusted and all should be well.