Thank's to a tip from "AllDodge", after adjustments to both engine and gimbal bearing, my coupler alignment is dead on! Who would have thought the bearing could be manipulated in any way. Is the bearing purposely designed that way? I was very surprised at just how much it can it can swivel. Why does it seem this is somewhat of a secret? I have never read or heard it mentioned anywhere else. Thank's for the advice or I would still be out there goin nut's!

Its not a secret at all. Its in all the service manuals listed step by step procedures.

Hence the name Gimbal Bearing .

My manual must be outdated or just not a good one. It doesn't cover much on alignment or explain the gimbal bearing. I thought it was so named as being a part of the gimbal housing. Live and learn! "The only true knowledge consist in knowing that you know nothing!" Exactly. Socrates.

The gimbal bearing is in fact called a cartridge bearing. That means the bearing part is spherical and can be rotated 90* and removed from the housing to replace the bearing while leaving the housing installed. It is also considered self aligning which in this case is a bit of a misnomer. You need to actually align it to the coupler if it is out of whack or you will never get the alignment tool in or the alignment correct. If you look at a complete gimbal bearing uninstalled you will see the housing has 2 notches machined into it that allows the bearing to be removed from the housing when rotated 90* and aligned to the notches. I install my gimbal bearings with the notches facing out so I can change bearings without the need to remove the housing. For some reason merc installs the gimbal bearing assemblies with the notches facing in so you cannot easily swap out the cartridge bearing. I never understood why this do that. Glad to hear you got your engine aligned correctly.

Just caught this thread. I just posted on the other one. Replaced several gimble bearings over the years without issues. Manual? Say whaaaaat.