Hello forum members,
I'm having issues aligning my engine with the gimbal bearing that I just replaced.
Note- I have already looked about everywhere when it comes to doing this. I've read the how to on this forum as well as many other topics relating to the subject. Watched numerous videos etc. I know what proper alignment should be, I've seen friscoboaters videos. I'm close, but I'm not there yet.
Full story - skip to the "Here's where I'm running into problems..." if you don't feel like reading it.
I have a 1998 Maxum 2100 that I bought earlier this year and is in excellent condition for its age. I was supposedly cared for by a marina in Dallas, Tx and used on Lake Granbury. All signs point to this boat being well maintained, so I'm inclined to believe the story. I live in San Marcos, Tx and normally go out on Canyon Lake. About a month ago I went out with some friends and was having a good time until we went up the Guadalupe River. I had been up this river many times and had never had any issues (lots of stumps and trees coming out of the water), but today was the day. While teaching one of my friends how to drive the boat so I can ski we hit a stump / log. By hit, I mean HIT HARD. Was going about 15-18 mph, almost on full plane but still nose up had the stern deep in the water. Didn't see the stump / log at all. When we hit it the boat raised out of the water a little, and then a split second later the lower unit hit. Big noise, motor revved, and we immediately came to a stop. Shut everything down, grabbed my goggles, jumped in the water to see how bad the damage was. The gimbal ring was broken in half ! Right at the horizontal pivot point (tilt / trim pivot) ! It also split in half at the lower vertical pivot (steering pivot) ! The outdrive had been pulled so far back that the drive shaft had come out of the engine coupler. The exhaust bellows was pulled off the gimbal housing. Shift cable bellows was torn in half. Luckily the drive shaft bellows was intact otherwise this story might have ended with the boat at the bottom of the lake! I was fortunate to have a friend out on the water and he was able to tow me back to the dock where we loaded the boat on the trailer, and inspected for more damage. The outdrive had essentially nothing holding it to the boat besides the drive shaft bellows and the trim cylinders. I had my tools in my truck so I was able to get the outdrive off and put it in the bed of my truck. Had to cut the shift cable with a pair of pliers to save time, not something I wanted to do. By this time it was 10:30pm, we hit the stump around 5:30, didn't get home till about 12:30 that morning. Not a great day on the water, but still beats a day at work! Also the boat did get a little water in it due to the shift cable bellows being torn in half.
I looked over everything to check nothing else was damaged. The outdrive was in good shape, not even a mark of where we hit anything. No hairline cracks in the lower unit that I can find, prop is good shape minus a few scratches that were already there. The upper is also fine, no damage whatsoever.
Went about ordering the parts. Decided to some maintenance while everything was apart. New - Drive shaft bellows, exhaust bellows, shift cable bellows, shift cable, U joints, gimbal bearing, and trim senders. Found a good used gimbal ring on Ebay, when I got it I made sure the square hole at the top was not worn. Also ordered the special tools required to do some of the work - Alignment tool, exhaust bellows tool, bellows ring installer etc. Decided to go with the mercury recommended way of replacing the gimbal ring by drilling 2 large holes on the side of the gimbal housing to get to the nut and bolt. I didn't like the idea of cutting a big access hole in the back of the gimbal housing then using the cover plate to seal it back up. It's more work the other way but I'd rather do it that way.
So far what I've done is drill the holes in the side of the gimbal housing, remove the bolt and nut. Using a hammer and chisel to remove the nut was a PITA! Took over an hour! I kept telling myself "It's better that pulling the motor, its better than pulling the motor". I replaced the U-joints, didn't need to, they were in good condition. I also pulled the old gimbal bearing and installed the new one. I didn't check the alignment before pulling the old bearing, I probably should have.
When I went to stick the alignment tool in the old bearing while it was still on the boat, I could not get the large diameter to fit into the bearing. Measured it with my calipers and found that the tool was just a bit oversized. I bought tool on Ebay that came as a kit for like $85. I put the tool in the vise and used some emery cloth to sand it down to the right diameter. I checked it with the new bearing and got it to fit perfectly. Just a thousandth or two under size. I still could not get the tool to slide into the old bearing when it was on the boat. I don't know why. I just decided to pull the old bearing figuring that it might have been damaged in the hit. Once I pulled it, I was able to get the tool to go into the bearing. I think I just didn't have the tool perfectly lined up or something. Installed the new bearing with no problems.
Here's where I'm running into problems...
No matter what combination of adjustments I try, I cannot seem to get the motor aligned properly. I can get it close, where the tool will slide in fairly easily right up till the last 1/2" or so. I can get the grease tracks even top and bottom with the motor mount adjustment almost bottomed out. They were originally adjusted about midway, but I don't know if it was aligned properly because I couldn't check. I'm getting a lot of spline contact on the starboard side of the alignment tool. I've tried rotating the engine to see if that made a difference. I've also put the tool in and hit it top & bottom and side to side, to align the bearing with the coupler. Still getting a lot of spline contact on the starboard side of the alignment tool.
Every time I check alignment motor mounts are tightened down so that the engine is not twisted either direction. I've even tried to raise 1 mount higher than the other by a max of 2 turns of the adjustment nut with no major changes. If anything it got worse. Which mount should I raise / lower to get more spline contact on the port side. The engine mount pedestals on the boat may not be exactly the same height. I will also note that the engine mount pedestals in the boat are in good condition and show no signs of the motor mount sinking into the wood. The mounts are lag bolted into the wooden pedestals. I tried to loosen the lag bolts but it felt like I was going to break the head off the bolt so I was unable to get them loose. I resorted to loosening the 3 bolts that go into the block that hold the motor mount on either side of the engine. I also loosened the rear mounts on the inner transom plate. Then I used a 8 foot 2x4 to try and shift the entire engine to the starboard. I could get the engine to move but when I tightened everything back down there was no change in the grease tracks on the alignment tool.
Another observation - when I slide the tool in, I can feel it move slightly to the right as it "finds" the splines on the motor coupler. This takes a little force but once it lines up it slides in fairly easily right up till the last 1/2". It's not as easy as friscoboaters video where he can just push it in with is thumb. It takes a little more force than that. But its close.
I think I covered all the common responses that I've seen about engine alignment. Hopefully someone will have and idea that I haven't thought of yet. I know how important engine alignment is and want to get it right.
I look forward to hearing from fellow forum members regarding this issue
I'm having issues aligning my engine with the gimbal bearing that I just replaced.
Note- I have already looked about everywhere when it comes to doing this. I've read the how to on this forum as well as many other topics relating to the subject. Watched numerous videos etc. I know what proper alignment should be, I've seen friscoboaters videos. I'm close, but I'm not there yet.
Full story - skip to the "Here's where I'm running into problems..." if you don't feel like reading it.
I have a 1998 Maxum 2100 that I bought earlier this year and is in excellent condition for its age. I was supposedly cared for by a marina in Dallas, Tx and used on Lake Granbury. All signs point to this boat being well maintained, so I'm inclined to believe the story. I live in San Marcos, Tx and normally go out on Canyon Lake. About a month ago I went out with some friends and was having a good time until we went up the Guadalupe River. I had been up this river many times and had never had any issues (lots of stumps and trees coming out of the water), but today was the day. While teaching one of my friends how to drive the boat so I can ski we hit a stump / log. By hit, I mean HIT HARD. Was going about 15-18 mph, almost on full plane but still nose up had the stern deep in the water. Didn't see the stump / log at all. When we hit it the boat raised out of the water a little, and then a split second later the lower unit hit. Big noise, motor revved, and we immediately came to a stop. Shut everything down, grabbed my goggles, jumped in the water to see how bad the damage was. The gimbal ring was broken in half ! Right at the horizontal pivot point (tilt / trim pivot) ! It also split in half at the lower vertical pivot (steering pivot) ! The outdrive had been pulled so far back that the drive shaft had come out of the engine coupler. The exhaust bellows was pulled off the gimbal housing. Shift cable bellows was torn in half. Luckily the drive shaft bellows was intact otherwise this story might have ended with the boat at the bottom of the lake! I was fortunate to have a friend out on the water and he was able to tow me back to the dock where we loaded the boat on the trailer, and inspected for more damage. The outdrive had essentially nothing holding it to the boat besides the drive shaft bellows and the trim cylinders. I had my tools in my truck so I was able to get the outdrive off and put it in the bed of my truck. Had to cut the shift cable with a pair of pliers to save time, not something I wanted to do. By this time it was 10:30pm, we hit the stump around 5:30, didn't get home till about 12:30 that morning. Not a great day on the water, but still beats a day at work! Also the boat did get a little water in it due to the shift cable bellows being torn in half.
I looked over everything to check nothing else was damaged. The outdrive was in good shape, not even a mark of where we hit anything. No hairline cracks in the lower unit that I can find, prop is good shape minus a few scratches that were already there. The upper is also fine, no damage whatsoever.
Went about ordering the parts. Decided to some maintenance while everything was apart. New - Drive shaft bellows, exhaust bellows, shift cable bellows, shift cable, U joints, gimbal bearing, and trim senders. Found a good used gimbal ring on Ebay, when I got it I made sure the square hole at the top was not worn. Also ordered the special tools required to do some of the work - Alignment tool, exhaust bellows tool, bellows ring installer etc. Decided to go with the mercury recommended way of replacing the gimbal ring by drilling 2 large holes on the side of the gimbal housing to get to the nut and bolt. I didn't like the idea of cutting a big access hole in the back of the gimbal housing then using the cover plate to seal it back up. It's more work the other way but I'd rather do it that way.
So far what I've done is drill the holes in the side of the gimbal housing, remove the bolt and nut. Using a hammer and chisel to remove the nut was a PITA! Took over an hour! I kept telling myself "It's better that pulling the motor, its better than pulling the motor". I replaced the U-joints, didn't need to, they were in good condition. I also pulled the old gimbal bearing and installed the new one. I didn't check the alignment before pulling the old bearing, I probably should have.
When I went to stick the alignment tool in the old bearing while it was still on the boat, I could not get the large diameter to fit into the bearing. Measured it with my calipers and found that the tool was just a bit oversized. I bought tool on Ebay that came as a kit for like $85. I put the tool in the vise and used some emery cloth to sand it down to the right diameter. I checked it with the new bearing and got it to fit perfectly. Just a thousandth or two under size. I still could not get the tool to slide into the old bearing when it was on the boat. I don't know why. I just decided to pull the old bearing figuring that it might have been damaged in the hit. Once I pulled it, I was able to get the tool to go into the bearing. I think I just didn't have the tool perfectly lined up or something. Installed the new bearing with no problems.
Here's where I'm running into problems...
No matter what combination of adjustments I try, I cannot seem to get the motor aligned properly. I can get it close, where the tool will slide in fairly easily right up till the last 1/2" or so. I can get the grease tracks even top and bottom with the motor mount adjustment almost bottomed out. They were originally adjusted about midway, but I don't know if it was aligned properly because I couldn't check. I'm getting a lot of spline contact on the starboard side of the alignment tool. I've tried rotating the engine to see if that made a difference. I've also put the tool in and hit it top & bottom and side to side, to align the bearing with the coupler. Still getting a lot of spline contact on the starboard side of the alignment tool.
Every time I check alignment motor mounts are tightened down so that the engine is not twisted either direction. I've even tried to raise 1 mount higher than the other by a max of 2 turns of the adjustment nut with no major changes. If anything it got worse. Which mount should I raise / lower to get more spline contact on the port side. The engine mount pedestals on the boat may not be exactly the same height. I will also note that the engine mount pedestals in the boat are in good condition and show no signs of the motor mount sinking into the wood. The mounts are lag bolted into the wooden pedestals. I tried to loosen the lag bolts but it felt like I was going to break the head off the bolt so I was unable to get them loose. I resorted to loosening the 3 bolts that go into the block that hold the motor mount on either side of the engine. I also loosened the rear mounts on the inner transom plate. Then I used a 8 foot 2x4 to try and shift the entire engine to the starboard. I could get the engine to move but when I tightened everything back down there was no change in the grease tracks on the alignment tool.
Another observation - when I slide the tool in, I can feel it move slightly to the right as it "finds" the splines on the motor coupler. This takes a little force but once it lines up it slides in fairly easily right up till the last 1/2". It's not as easy as friscoboaters video where he can just push it in with is thumb. It takes a little more force than that. But its close.
I think I covered all the common responses that I've seen about engine alignment. Hopefully someone will have and idea that I haven't thought of yet. I know how important engine alignment is and want to get it right.
I look forward to hearing from fellow forum members regarding this issue
