I'm an avid reader of this forum but have run into a situation re-assembling my mercruiser stern drive I haven't seen a post for. I have a '89 Searay 23CC cuddy with a Chevy 5.7L engine and a Alpha One Gen 1 stern drive.
I've just done reseal of the outdrive and replaced the gimbal bearing and seal along with all the bellows and shift cable, etc. I've checked the alignment of the drive with an alignment bar and all is great. In reassembly, I can only get the drive unit as close as 2" to the gimbal housing. It does not appear the drive splines have even begun to engage but I have turned the prop shaft numerous times thinking it could just be slightly out of rotational alignment. Nothing I've done gets the unit any closer together than the 2". I cant find anything that is restricting it from going together. Can anyone give an idea of what to look for. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Bill
I've just done reseal of the outdrive and replaced the gimbal bearing and seal along with all the bellows and shift cable, etc. I've checked the alignment of the drive with an alignment bar and all is great. In reassembly, I can only get the drive unit as close as 2" to the gimbal housing. It does not appear the drive splines have even begun to engage but I have turned the prop shaft numerous times thinking it could just be slightly out of rotational alignment. Nothing I've done gets the unit any closer together than the 2". I cant find anything that is restricting it from going together. Can anyone give an idea of what to look for. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Bill
