just purchased gimbal bearing and bellow kit as well as alignment tool.
gimbal bearing install went rather easy, however im gald i purchased merc alignment tool. way off
my question is, do i lossen the front left and right mounts? do i need to jack the engine up? where do i start and fine tune alignment?

It depends on how its off,,,but u need to losen them either way.
Just make shure u do it without the tool in the bearing or u gonna ruin it.

looking w/led light it appears engine needs to move upward heavy 1/8"... but thats just eye ballin

A good trick is to lube up the end of the alignment tool and then shove it through and see what the grease looks like when you pull it back out. Then you can tell where the wear points are and align accordingly....

with that being said...
what mounts are adjustible? where do i start?

only the front mounts are adjustable..........loosen the lock nuts ....then unbend the lock tabs on the nuts under the motor mounts ....If there is enough room ...yes you can jack the motor up slightly and see if the tool gets easier or more difficult to insert and remove ...if you can push it in and out with one hand your ok .... you'll know when its good ...Lube the tool up well ... We just did one last night and had to drop it about 2 turns on the nuts ....m

What if there are no adjusting nuts in the front?? I checked my alignment after replacing gimbal and the motor is about 1/2" too high
I don`t see a way for any adjustment like the manual states with front mounts


My motor mounts look like this on each side:

Cant Adjust those ... you Changed the Gimbel or just the bearing? In anycase the bearing itself might not be aligned ...insert the tool and you can swivel the bearing ..might be all it is ......m

I changed the whole gimbal.. meaning the race and teh bearing.. is that what you meant?

I mean it`s almost there I`ll try to mess with a it is bit more..

EDIT: I gave the alignment tool a bit of some downward force and it 'aligned'!! Now it slides in and out like butter!

Thanx MIKE!

Yoo hoo .... been there done that .....