Aligning engine.

[kyleputzier]

I am in the process of aligning the engine. When I took the drive off I tested the alignment with the old gimbal bearing still in place. I could not get the bar to even think about going in the spline section. When I took the gimbal bearing out, I could get the alignment bar into the splines with no problem. I could also clearly see that the engine need to be aligned. Looking at the bar from back of the boat, it is up and to the right. With the new gimbal bearing in, the bar will no longer slide into the coupler.

Moving the engine up and down is obviously straightforward. Side to side is not so clear. I have searched the list and it seems that shimming the motor mounts accomplishes this. Is this correct?

Kyle

1999 VP 5.7 & SX

 

[Don S]

Re: Aligning engine.

The first thing you have to do is align the inner part of the gimbal bearing to the coupler. It moves independently from the outer race of the gimbal bearing..
You may have to move the bearing around with the alignment bar to find the coupler. Then when you do, then you can start aligning. But if you couldn't align it with the old bearing, then something is wrong. Failed front or rear mounts or one came loose and allowed the engine to drop.
You basically have to start from scratch and find out where it needs to be adjusted to and if you have any failed mounts.