I had the boat just about ready to start up last night, and when I went to install the drive, it would stop short of mating up by about 2 inches. Yes, I did align the engine with the proper tool earlier, but this time the tool would not go in. (I was pretty sure the tool slid in OK before - even rotated the engine 180* and checked it again. However, I am a noob at this and might not have put it in far enough.)

This morning I loosened up the mounts and put the hoist back on it, and me and a couple buddies jacked around on it all afternoon to no avail. The best we could ever do was to get the tool to slide into the coupler splines by about one inch, and then it freezes up, almost like it is hitting something. The drive does the same thing when I tried put it on again. No matter what we do, the furthest it will go in is about 1 inch.

The coupler splines look fine visually. I verified that the fiber washer and lock washer are in their proper locations. I don't think the problem is with the tool because a friend used it on his boat with no problem. I can't think of anything else to check!

I guess at this point the only thing I can do is pull the damned engine and try a different coupler. I'm pretty tempted to just take a big hammer and whack the damned tool into the coupler!

Has anyone else encountered a problem like this? This was my old coupler, but the splines were still squared up and it looked OK on a visual inspection. The boat does have the offshore style mounts, and I am sure that all the bolt holes are lined up properly. The engine was align honed, but just a very small amount was taken off - I can't imagine this could be my problem, but I guess anything is possible with my luck!

Open to any suggestions. Thanks!

Did you put grease on the alignment tool then slide it in to see the pattern in the grease

Yep, did that several times, and adjusted accordingly. No dice. The tool would slide in fairly smoothly to a depth of about 1 inch, then stop as if it hit something solid.

I finally went out there again last night and reached into the coupler with my finger and felt the splines. I could clearly feel a raised burr on the splines just past the first grease ring. Apparently, the best I can guess, the alignment tool must have buggered up the aluminum splines on the coupler. It is possible that it got pinched in there when we moved the motor around with the tool still installed. I guess it may be possible to file the burr down, but most likely I will have to buy a new coupler.

So I guess it will be 2 years in a row at the lake without my damned boat.

If the alignment tool burred up the coupler your alignment was way off to begin with. Also, you cant burr the coupler by hand with the alignment tool. Just saying

when you get the alignment tool in half way, take a dead-blow and hammer the alignment tool up, down, left and right. Your gimbal bearing may need to be centered. Hopefully this helps.

If not you just need to adjust the pedestal mounts on the front of the engine, assuming you don't have offshore mounts. Shouldn't take you long.

Boat does have offshore mounts, not pedestal type. Unless I can file down the burrs on the coupler spline, the coupler is probably screwed.

Like I said, my guess is that it got messed up when we had the tool in there and the engine was raised and lowered. That's my best guess. Live and learn.

Right now I just need to figure out whether the coupler is toast or if I can get in there with a machine file and file those burrs down.

You might try taking a hand drill with a small round sanding disc in a long extension and sand the burr off.

Yeah, thought about something like that. My concern then would be getting all the grit and shavings out of there. If that stuff was left in there, I would think it would wear out the coupler.

Once your done hit it with degreaser and hose it out. Then grease it and your set. Even if the coupler wears out prematurely your no worse off then you are now.