red thunder

I have read about outdrive toe-in. It was suggested that 1/16 to 1/8" of toe-in is correct. My understand of toe-in is when the prop shafts are wider than the drives leading edge. If so, let me ask a few questions.
1. Is what I stated correct?
2. Whats are the handling difference between toe-in/out.
3. Does drive alignment differ with different drives such as Bravo to #6's.
4. How does this measurement affect weather the props are turning in or out?
5. What effect does this have on staggard drives?

Back4More

I think its toe out...1/16 to an 1/8

meyerwrench

Back4more is right it needs to be toed out. The center line of the front of the drives needs to be out compared to the center line of the prop shafts. The faster you go the lest toe out you need.

Reed Jensen

Funny you guys would ask such a question.... In" Poker runs America" there is an article about drive alignment... they suggest "toe out", the amount you guys suggest... but in "Powerboat" magazine... Bob"I'm never wrong" Teague suggests toe in... about the same amount... his theory is because the water is coming out from under the boat at an angle...Does the amount of water being displaced make a difference? I can't imagine that the water is coming out at an angle... even if it is... isn't the direction of the skeg more important? After all... the skeg is steering the boat... water going sideways or not.... I have to reject Teague's theory. I don't know what to think... does prop rotation matter? Cat verses Vee? different drives? Bravo verses Speedmaster? How strong your tie bar is?How far apart your drives are placed.... the x dimension? I think that if your props are turning out... the drives should be set slightly toe out... if the props turn in... slightly toe in... only because of the side loading of the drive by the paddle wheel effect of the props... and this is only so that the drives don't oscillate back and forth... any other theories? This is too funny!

throttleup

Red Thunder

Drive alignment is something you should play with and find what works best for your needs and driving style. Try different settings and see how your boat responds. Just be careful when trying a new setting. Ease the boat up to speed and take gentle turns and see what differences there are in both speed and handling. If you have Bravo drives also try turning the props both in and out. If you are turning the props in the opposite direction of where they are now be careful around the dock. Reverse is forward and forward is reverse.

Matt

Reed Jensen

Reverse is forward.... forward is reverse... yeah on Bravos ... don't try doing that with Speedmasters or anything else with a trans... I can guarantee you will be looking at a new trans in a few minutes. On any boat with a trans you have to swap the entire outdrive units.

X-Rated30

I don't think that is true with Twin Disk trannies. I contemplated this the other day, and called a shop that works with them. They said fwd and rev are the same, don't sweat it.
My .02.

Reed Jensen

I'm not familiar with Twin Disc.. may be true... but don't do that to a Borg Warner Velveeta touch, it will ruin them for sure! Speedmaster drives were designed to run in only one direction... especially the dry sump models... the pump is driven off the propshaft and will only pump in one direction. So if I'm not mistaken... if you run the drive backwards for a long time it will suffer from lack of lubrication.

Reckless32

Let's refresh the topic since I'm going thru an adjustment now.

After some long discussions elsewhere, I'm settling on putting my drives at 1/16" to 1/8" toe-out (meaning bullets or leading edge) further apart than the heels (propshafts without prop). I'm as tad over 80mph. I understand if I were faster then basically dead even toe/heel would be best. More toe if I was slower?

Anyway some other considerations and questions I have:

1) What common method does everyone use to ensure the drives are pointed dead ahead when making their adjustments, or is it limited strictly to eyeballing?

2) At what position is it optimum for the drives to be in (meaning up/down or trim position) when making adjustments, at trim limit? all the way up? all the way down? doesn't matter?

Reckless32

No thoughts?