I thought about that but have not tried it. 90 degrees and sunny so I was too burned and burned out to try that.

I did pack grease in the splines and smoothed it out then tried to install it again. I can see the splines are lining up and that the grease is only pushed back about 1/8" so it's definitely binding at the coupler. Once the splines get past the tapers it's too tight to push in.

The alignment tool I ordered should be here in the next day or two. I'll know for certain soon.

Side question, when the drive shift cable engages the keeper (latch) or as I have heard it referred to as birds mouth do you wrap a small zip tie around it to keep it from opening up? One local shop around here zip ties them so the cable cannot disengage under force.

if the upper unit is connected to the transom unit correctly, there wont be enough room for the birds mouth to open - it can only open when the cable itself is outside of the upper unit
ive never heard of ziptying it but i suppose there wouldnt be harm, i wouldnt want to risk it breaking / falling off and restricting the throw of the cable if that were to happen

Any Updates?

I’d think that it would cause issues when pulling the drive, too.

I did not see how it could open up as well unless something was worn real bad or jury rigged. Perhaps they do this so when someone tries self service they dick it up!?

The previous owner's mechanic left the engine mount lock nuts loose so the engine was out of alignment. I got it aligned so the tool slid in and out with 3 fingers and everything went together perfectly.

The weather has sucked since I got the boat together but this weekend looks good to get out on the water.

Since you guys were talking about the bird mouth here's a shot of it.

my drives are 22 years old now. 900ish hours. when they go, I'll throw SEI ones on it.

I would recommend it ,

so far they have been working flawlessly, they are hooked up behind 496HOs , first season using them and have no complaints, plus the 3 year warranty doesn't hurt either,

I've just gotten through the 5 hour break in period on my SEI drive behind a 496 HO. Now that the weather has cooled off we'll get more hours on the boat and update this thread along the way.

On a side note, I still want to get my 2004 B1 XR rebuilt but having trouble finding a competent builder on Central Florida's east coast.