Aligning Mercruiser 3.0 after Gimbal Bearing with Side Mounts

[frostystorm]

I don't have the front mount, I have two brackets on the side of the Engine, Attached is the Diagram. Which sucks because every Video, Forum Post, Etc. I read is for the front mount that blocks your belts from being easy to replace.

I am assuming that the top bolts are loosened. My Real Question is about the Retainer, it bends over the bolt, I assume that I bend that out of the way, do the adjustment and bend it back?

Also does anyone know what size wrench fits over these bolts? Again they appear to be different than the usual bolts on the front mount that everyone has documented 10,000 times.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Scott Danforth]

Look up alignment process for 4.3.

The side brackets allowed the boat to receive either a 3.0 or 4.3

 

[alldodge]

I am assuming that the top bolts are loosened. My Real Question is about the Retainer, it bends over the bolt, I assume that I bend that out of the way, do the adjustment and bend it back?

Also does anyone know what size wrench fits over these bolts? Again they appear to be different than the usual bolts on the front mount that everyone has documented 10,000 times.

The process is to bend the the retainer away enough so nuts can be rotated. The top is moved several turns out of the way and adjustment is done by the ones under the mount.

After alignment is made the tabs should be bent back in place. Some such as I don't put them back in place because I pull and check alignment every year.

The wrenches are 1 1/8 inch

 

[frostystorm]

The process is to bend the the retainer away enough so nuts can be rotated. The top is moved several turns out of the way and adjustment is done by the ones under the mount.

After alignment is made the tabs should be bent back in place. Some such as I don't put them back in place because I pull and check alignment every year.

The wrenches are 1 1/8 inch

Awesome, perfect information! I got it all aligned. It goes in so smooth you can barely tell it's going into the coupler except for the spline marks in the grease.

Someone put a greasable bearing into my housing before I bought the boat, but it has the plug where the zerk fitting was that would be used with a permalube bearing, so my bearing chewed itself up pretty fast being starved of grease I couldn't give it.

Whomever "maintained" this boat had a wait for catastrophic failure mentality, which is why it has a 2020 long block in it that has just reached break in hah! I have been going over everything, hard to pass up a 2009 boat with a brand new motor in it for what I paid for it last year.