gsxr1216

finally got my motor back in my boat tonight, it was very painless which should have been a clue to the rest of my night... boat is a 1990 baja 250 with a 454 Bravo


anyway, alignment tool wont go in at all to the coupler, up/down looks good visually. for grins i raised it on the hoist and tool still wouldnt start to go in. visually it looks off in port to starboard direction not up and down. get in the boat and stick my fingers back there and i can feel lots of the lead in chamfer on the coupler on one side and not much on the other which seems to confirm my P to S visual offset.

So how do i align port to starboard issues?? EVERYTHING on this boat was out, motor was rebuilt 100% top to bottom, new coupler, whole transom assembly was removed to replace steering lever seals and bushings.

motor mounts were loose when i went to pull motor, as in loose being the locknut on the motor mount, and the lag bolts going into the stringer also, coupler splines were shot, most likely due to all the motor mounts being loose as a goose, so it doesnt surprise me that this motor doesnt line up after replacing and rebuilding everything but being off left to right has me baffled.

seeing as the 2 rear mounts are on the inner transom plate and fixed i dont see how this can be off this far? i have heard of people "re-aligning" the gimble bearing by sticking the tool in it only and moving it with the tool?? is this recommened? to me that seems like it would be stressing the inner/outer race, or is this gimble bearing able to "clock" in the bell housing to line up right??

any info would be helpful!

Budman II

iTrader: (1)

I went through some similar issues, but mine has offshore mounts instead of the standard stringer mounts. Unless there was really a lot of play in the bolts holding the transom assembly, I doubt that is your problem. Was a new gimble bearing installed? If it was not seated evenly all the way, that could cause right/left alignment issues. I can't help much with questions pertaining to that type of mount, other than to suggest loosening the lags through the stringers a little bit to see if you can change the alignment that way.

BTW, be very careful moving the engine around with the tool installed. The coupler splines are aluminum, so it is fairly easy to gall them with the tool. I found this out the hard way. Also, check the end of the tool and make sure it has at least 3/16" of chamfer on the end. If it does not, turn it on a bench grinder to increase the chamfer. This will cut down on the chances of burring or galling your splines.

Good luck. Believe me, I know first hand how much this sucks. Mine is still not on the water either. Had it on the ramp on the trailer, and still not getting adequate water flow.

offthefront

iTrader: (1)

the Gimble bearing might need "tweaking" insert the Alignment tool and rock it from side to side or up and down to make sure its seated and in proper position ....m

gsxr1216

gimble bearing is the same one that was in the boat, it was not removed from the transom plate though, but that doesnt mean it was seated all the way as i'm sure it was replaced at some point since its a 20 year old boat and that bearing looks very good and turns as smooth as butter so its probly newer. and as i said seeing how worn my coupler splines were ( right down to razor points on the spline) i'm sure it wasnt right before it came apart

c_deezy

iTrader: (1)

What was your hardware stack-up when you bolted the engine to the transom plate? Do you have the fiber washer and spring washer between the transom plate and the rear motor mount?

EDIT: Sorry...missed the part where you said you were having horizontal alignment issues, not vertical. There is a little play side to side with the bushings in the transom assembly, but not too much. Why did you pull the motor in the first place? Engine work or structure work on the boat?

gsxr1216

fiber are in place, and dual wound washer is in there also.

OK so i took the tool slide it in a touch so its only in the gimble bearing and gave it a wrap with the plam of my hand and the bearing moved, now the tool starts to go in maybe 3/4" into coupler and i can see it scraping the grease off the bottom of the tool from the splines so i know the front of the motor needs to go down now to get the tool in farther.

So the million $$$ question, i have no idea of knowing if the bearing is "seated" all the way down square to the bottom of the outer transom plate, i do know its now close and tweaking my front mount will get me lined up bearing to coupler. does the bearing need to be seated square in the bottom of the hole in the outer transom plate and square the motor up to it or is squaring it up in its bore to the engine coupler sufficient. i cant imagine this bearing would change position in its bore once the drive is feed through so i think this works but i want to make sure before i start tossing more parts back together!

gsxr1216

OK, what size is this alignment tool supposed to be??? i'm been jerking around for 4 HOURS moving this motor up and down and the tool only goes in 3/4" then stops like its hitting a wall. it moves smooth that first 3/4". i can lift this motor up and down 3/8" on the hoist and it goes in the same distance...

i should have made sure this tool fits in my coupler before i dropped the motor in the boat cause i took the tool to my old worn out coupler and it wont go in that one more than 1/16"....

this one measures 1.010" OD where it fits into the coupler.

gsxr1216

well 5 hours later and no closer.. pulled the motor back out to make sure the tool fit the coupler, it slides in all the way....

i cant figure out why this tool slides easily 3/4" then stops dead..

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

It says " #12 install bilge drain plug in The hull" for engine alignment

gsxr1216

well 11 hours later now.................................. got it all lined up mint


THEN rotated the motor 180 to make sure all was good and cant get the tool in 1/4 of the way... why is there nothing to align the coupler to the flywheel?? whatever clearance is in the bolt hole will allow the coupler to be non concentric with the flywheel and crank. i never checked to see if the coupler was concentric to the crank rotation. I jacked with it trying to line it up there and cant get it to line up anymore......

do you guys ever check the motor 180 from where you started after its aligned, or just stick the tool in in one spot move it till it slides in nice and call it good??