Drive alignment
 

Just curious what everyone is paying for a drive alignment's? I took my boat in 2 weeks ago to have the drives aligned they got one drive off and realized they needed a longer drive alignment tool (IMCO Boxes). Put my drive back on and told me I had to order the tool and charged me 170 bucks for taking the drive off. I was told I would'nt be charge again for taking the drive off once I had the tool. Boats done they only did one side with a total of 282 bucks does this sound reasonable?

Thanks

Re: Drive alignment
 

They charged you $170 to pull the drive, but what is the extra hun for? It takes me about 1/2 hour to pull my drive including the external steering. Them obviously not being familiar with the setup, the drive could be pulled in less than a hour. It doesn't take much more time to reinstall the drive and top off the oil. So $170 to R&R the drive works out to be $85 per hour. That's a bit high, but a feasible shop rate. Now this amount will need be multipied by two for the other side and that's assuming the alignment is good. If the alignment is off, it's anybody's guess what the bill could be.

If you have the tool, this is a job that you can do pretty easily yourself.

Re: Drive alignment
 

Your better off if your at all mechanically inclined to learn how to do it yourself. I made a alignment tool thats 1 1/2 ft longer than merc tool with big handle for leverage and bought a outdrive jack. For 560$ each year to do this you could buy a pro jack and a alignment tool with the savings from 2 seasons of paying and you'll know its done right,I don't trust anyone to work on boat,even the "pro's at the marina,same way with winterizing. My buddy had a 29 ft baja outlaw w/twins,stripped a coupler out at 205 hours,pulled it off himself and the splines were gone(cheap aluminum oem couplers) BUT the sick part was the splines were DRY!!!!! no evidence of any gease in years :mad: !!! He had PAID the sorry arse baja dealer (bay harbor marine in bay city michigan) to pull outdrives every year,grease splines and change engine oil!!Even the side that wasn't stripped was lacking much grease,it had only been 40 hours since they "serviced him",there is no way the grease just dissappeared,of course they denied any responsibility,claimed he should have been greasing the couplers in between yearly services BUT there is no way the grease just dissappeared. Smitty
P.S.-I used to struggle to pull outdrive and put it back on because the big XR style ujoints would get caught up in bellows ring,it would take 1-1/2-2 hours to rxr drive,after getting the jack it takes minutes to pull and put back on!!

Re: Drive alignment
 

I have no problem doing it myself, my problem is my lift is down and I did'nt feel like muscleing the drive around. Update-changeing my oil last night and making sure everything is tight for my trip to the shootout and found the jam nut loose. Nice I know, when I say loose I talking a good 5 turns on the jam nut. So what what do you think? Clueless comes to mind.
As rough as LOTO gets that could of did some Major damage. Thats the last time I have anybody work on my stuff.

Re: Drive alignment
 

my feeling is what was out of line is telling you that you need to buy the tool !!! 170 is not out of line if they actually did the work that you requested. When they saw that you had extension boxes they should of known that they needed the longer tool and never should of removed the drive in the first place !!!! why should you have to pay for there incompetence????

Re: Drive alignment
 

Artic friends where do I get one of those jacks.

Re: Drive alignment
 

the company is called yardarm,I tried to post a link but I can't figure it out,Smitty
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Stern Drive Installers

JO5 - Shop Use
Two front pneumatic tires and a single rear caster

JO6 - Rugged Yard Use
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JO6HD - Heavy Duty Use
Built with extra long clamping arms and wheel base, plus heavy duty lifting capacity for those extra heavy drives. Also works great on dual prop drives.


Key Benefits:
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Especially helpful on boats with integrated swim platforms
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Re: Drive alignment
 

here is a few more pics of useful stuff they sell,Smitty