Alignment help
 

First time trying to check engine alignment and after searching forum thought I had a handle on it. Just a few questions before I decide alignment is off and have to adjust mounts. How far should the tool go in. Right now it just stops as soon as it goes into the gimbal bearing about an inch. Tried tapping with a rubber mallet in 4 directions but still will not go in any farther. Smeared some grease on tool and will not slide in any farther. Am I doing this wrong??? Finger is where the tool is stopping.

Sounds like you are doing it correctly. Next step is to get a hoist hooked up to a center point on the front of the engine. Loosen the front mount nuts and raise engine above what you know is acceptable. Now while lowering engine, continually try to get tool to go into coupler, by hand. Should start to go in further at some point. Once it does start to move in, do the mallet trick again in all four directions to make sure the spherical part of the gimble bearing is aligned. Eventually you should be able to slide the tool in to a definitive stop as it bottoms out. If you don't get that, something is wrong. I usually raise the engine up and down a few times as I feel the tool go from not fitting to, getting better to, goes in all the way, to getting worse again, then repeat until proper center can be established.

Good luck,

BT :cool:

Dick is not entering the coupler. Bearing is angled off so as to prevent insertion into coupler. Pull up and down on tool after insertion into bearing only and feel it move around. It will loosen up as you move it. Once bearing centers on coupler you should be able to push it into coupler and them begin your grease testing. If bearing ring does not move around it may be frozen.

Also, it does not look like you are using Mercury Coupler grease. It should be blue.

Ed B

Since I do not have a hoist, should I raise engine up with the mounts until it goes in(or down as necessary?) And you are right is not right grease, it is on order but wanted to go ahead and begin process. Gimble bearinr rotates freely in all directions, and everything appears lined up to the naked eye, although I am sure that just a few turns of nuts on mounts can make the difference. Thanks for the advice and as soon as I can get another set of hands over here will try again.

Also how do you get to the grease fittings that go on the coupler? I can see them now that the outdrive is removed. Also, the up and down trick worked as the tool will now go in until I feel it hit the coupler, but does not feel like it will go into the coupler, so alignment is off I assume. Thanks for the tip and hope I can adjust this without the use of a hoist.

Something I do that makes the process real easy is to insert a 1" O.D. shaft into the coupler. Then look at how it goes through the bearing as you wiggle it and you will know which way you have to go. I have a lathe so I usually just measure the primary bore in the coupler and make the shaft the same size but its usually somewhere around 1".

Sometimes the rear mounts delaminate trom the rubber and one side of the motor can drop slightly.If the things the guys say above don't seem to work it could be rear engine mounts. Merc also makes a mount for their diesel bell housing that has a steel outside case instead of alumn.They fit in the standard Bravo bell too.

Greased the tip of alignment tool and slid it in until I feel it hit the coupler, pull it out and has marks on the bottom front edge of tool, so motor is too low in the front, right??? Will try and adjust it tomorrow. Thanks again for the help and will check the rear mounts also.

Yes, that is typically what happens. There is a locking tab that is supposed to keep the lower nut from working its way down but very few if anyone uses the locking tab correctly. Try and just tighten-up the bottom nuts until they are tight and check the alignment again. When you have the alignment correct, one tab should face up towards the outside of the mount and then bend the other tabs down around the nut to keep it from coming loose again. Lots of torque too.

On the rear mounts, stick your finger between the flywheel housing boss and the transom assembly boss. Then check the other side. They should be close. If one feels like there is less gap then the other, it may have failed.

After you get it right, turn the motor over 180 degrees and check it again. This will let you know if the coupler is running true with the crank.

Olemiss, during a routine check of my alignment found that my passenger side front motor mount nut had moved, causing a gap.
Make sure the tab is bent after adjusting. Mine wasn't.
I got lucky and coupler was not worn.

Good luck and keep us posted.
Bryan

Will let you know after I adjust both ways I guess. Also, how do you get at the coupler to grease it, I can see Zerk fittings through the gimble bearing hole, but do I have to remove bellows, housing, etc.. to get at them?? Any help appreciated.

If you look down behind the back of the engine the two coupler grease zerks are accessible. These need to be greased as least 2 times per season so make sure you find them!

Oh yeah, I like formula 31s idea with the 1" shafting material. Will help get you in the ballpark. Right now sounds like you are standing out in the parking lot ;)

BT :cool:

Actually, the front of motor is to low. With the motor sitting front low, that will tilt the coupler forward and make the bottom of the splines 1st to make contact and leave marks.

olemissalum,

If the motor mounts are of the screw/post type, look to see if there is a gap under the top lock nut. If so, that means 99% of the time that the lower adjusting nuts have screwed down= lowering the front of the motor out of alignment. DO NOT turn the top nuts. Turn the lower nuts until they raise the motor mounts back up against the top lock nut tight. Most of the time this puts the motor back in alignment, or at least very close to where the tool will go in fore a fine, final adjusting.

If the above condition is not the case, or if you have on offshore mount, 1st check for worn splines. With the drive removed, reach inside the coupler from the motor compartment and feel the splines themselves. (Be careful) If very sharp and pointed with possible aluminum slivers, the coupler splines will be distorted so much that even in perfect alignment, the tool will not enter. My point is that the tool will never enter as the splines are smaller than the tool now, so you will never get it aligned. Make a VISUAL and check by feel, before trying the tool itself. Worn splines will be pointed, sharp and non even in thickness between the tooth of the spline, and the groove of the spline.

As far as the grease zerks:
Done from inside motor compartment.
They are accesed by leaning over the top of the motor and rotating the motor until the zerk is pointed up.
Grease that zerk, then rotate motor 180* to grease 2nd one.

US1 Fountain, thanks for the correction, I was thinking about the coupler being the pivot point.

Thanks guys for the information. I have looked at the splines on the coupler and they look fine, no deformations and everything looks good, atleast to me but what do I know;)

What do you do if you have offshore mounts and there is no adjustment?
I removed a 12' Stelling box and I'm putting things back to original? I have not got to the point to where I'm going to gather with the outer gimble ring but it is one of my concerns. Would the line up be any different?

I would never recommend using a rubber mallet or any other type of hammer on the alignment tool. When correctly aligned, you should be able to insert the alignment tool until it seats firmly into the coupler and you should then be able to turn it freely with only two fingers. If it binds at all, you are still slightly out of alignment. I also had a problem on my boat with one engine torqued out of alignment R/L(or port/starboard). It was really frustrating until I figured out the problem after two Mercury certified marine mechanics couldn't get the alignment right.

You can indeed have perfect alignment yet not be able to get the alignment tool to slide into the coupler. This happens when the inner race of the gimbal bearing gets inadvertantly moved out of alignment or a new bearing is installed. When this happens it is a commonly accepted practice to tap perpendicular to the axis of the tool in all four directions to align the spherical part of the bearing. Don't read this as parrellel with the tool in which you would be driving the tool into the coupler.

BT :cool:

Sometimes after we put a new coupler on and the motor is in,we crank over the motor a couple of times.
This helps straighten it if its a little off center in the rubber. Case beening if you just can't seem to align the motor after using full adjustment up and down.

I just keep on grinding on the alignment tool until it goes in. Works EVERY time! I have yet had to adjust a motor to get it to align. ;) :D :D

As far as tapping on the tool itself, IF the bearing does move, which the outer race should not, wouldn't it be off in the last direction it was tapped on? I've never had to do this. But it sounds like it applies more to when a new gimble bearing is also installed, not just an alignment check. Ejucate me on this. thanks!

I've make several alignment tools in various sizes. If the normal doesn't go in I use one cut down about .020 just to see the pattern of the splines. Then I adjust the motor till the normal size goes in. After that I hit the tool side to side and up and down w/ small sledge hammer. This also helps to align the coupler in the rubber and aligns the bearing better.

US1, the gimbal bearing is a replacable cartridge bearing when installed properly (cutout to the front). The bearing portion can be replaced by aligning the bearing with the cutouts and rotating the cartridge 90*. When the drive is removed, there are times that the driveshaft can get cocked sidewayz after just exiting the coupler causing the bearing to move. Usually if the drive is allowed to drop. When this happens the cartridge (gimbal bearing) can become cocked sideways making realignment necessary to get the tool in. When you tap on the tool you need to make sure that it is at least started into the coupler else it won't work. If it is started the bearing will become aligned.

Before I learned this on a boat I had years ago, I got so pissed I couldn't get the engine aligned I took it to a merc dealer. Took the guy about 10 seconds to get the tool to slide right in after aligning the bearing.

BT

Ok, That part has never been mentioned before whenever someone mentions tapping on the tool. That makes since having the front edge of the tool 'started/ located/supported' in the coupler. I have always been picturing the tool just in the bearing only and being banged on. That's why I was thinking it could make the bearing out of alignment even more. Tanks fer da edukaysun!

No tanks necessary. Consider that payment for 1 of the 25 or 30 things you have taught me.... ;)

Dave