Engine Alignment

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

Hi guys, Im new here and this is my first post. First off id like to thank everyone here on this site, Ive learned a TON of info on boats! Ill make this short, I just bought a 1990 Fourwinns 220 horizon 5.7 OMC (I didnt know any better at the time). Well, first trip out and the lower unit locked up. I was at around 3500rpms and the boat immediately stopped. After finally getting home i pulled the drive to find the upper unit gear bearing froze up (was low on oil). So I bought a replacement upper, changed the gimbal bearing, bellows, and shift cable. My problem is when I insert my alignment tool im out of alignment from side to side not up and down. So raising/lowering my front engine mounts does nothing for me. Is it possible that my engine coupler got damaged when my lower unit locked up? Maybe the rubber got tweeked enough to misalign the splines? The splines look good (nice and flat) and no signs of rubber debris in the engine compartment. Also, the engine mounts appear to be solid as well as the stingers so i dont suspect engine sag. What do you guys think?
Also, I dont think the gimbal bearing needs to be tweeked either. When i inserted my alignment tool in the coupler with the gimbal bearing out it still was off center. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[tpenfield]

:welcome:

With the alignment tool in the gimbal bearing give it a whack from side-to-side to see if you can get the tool to meet the coupler. If you can get the tool to go in, then you might be OK.

Otherwise, read up on the instructions to post pictures and post a few of the gimbal bearing and the position of the alignment tool being off center that you spoke about.

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

I did that very thing. After I installed the gimbal bearing I inserted the alignment tool just inside the gimbal bearing and not in to oil seal and i tapped it in all directions. The bearing did indeed move in its housing. My question though is, the coupler was out of alignment BEFORE i even installed the new bearing. I put my alignment tool in the coupler and it was touching the right side of the oil seal and had a gap on the left side. Should I just align the gimbal bearing sideways to meet the coupler or do you think my coupler is damaged from the abrupt halt from my outdrive locking up? Maybe the coupler is partially torn? I"ll take pictures when i can.

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

Thanks for the welcome by the way! Ive read lots of your posts in the past and have been very helpful:joyous:

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

Im trying to find a 1in piece of round stock so I can insert that into the coupler to illustrate my issue. With the alignment tool I cant really illustrate my misalignment with the gimbal bearing installed unless i move the gimbal bearing off center to meet with the coupling.

 

[alldodge]

Howdy
With the upper locking up due to low oil, there could be debris that makes its way into the lower.

In most cases the side movement is seen because one side of the front motor mounts are low/higher then the other. This puts the motor in a twist, or could also be because the rear mounts have gone bad.

Start by raising the front of the motor just enough to take the weight off the front mounts by lifting at the thermostat housing area. Once lifted adjust the bottom nuts up so they just touch the bottom of the mounts. From then on adjust each mount equally up or down to find alignment

The alignment bar needs to go into the coupler before the bearing is smacked around for further centering. Adjusting prior just trys to get it closer to start.

If unable to get the bar in coupler, rotate the motor 90 degrees to see if the position changes. If it does change then the coupler needs changing

 

[Lou C]

Another thing you might do for checking your coupler:
get a really bright LED flashlight
get a remote starter switch.

Go up to the engine and disconnect the coil lead coming out of the distributor cap and ground it to the engine. Then hook up a remote starter switch to the starter solenoid (one clip goes to the big red B+ terminal or the battery positive post, the other goes to the small yellow red wire terminal on the starter). This will allow a helper to crank the engine while you look in the gimble bearing opening to see if the center section of the coupler runs true as the engine spins. While you don't absoultely need the switch, it is good for you helper to watch the engine to make sure that the coil lead does not become un-grounded while doing this.

The only other thing I can think of is that the boat could have been built his way, IE the engine mounts were installed slightly off. The rear engine mounts on the Cobra rarely if ever fail. Your engine stringers look good?

 

[tpenfield]

I did that very thing. After I installed the gimbal bearing I inserted the alignment tool just inside the gimbal bearing and not in to oil seal and i tapped it in all directions. The bearing did indeed move in its housing. My question though is, the coupler was out of alignment BEFORE i even installed the new bearing. I put my alignment tool in the coupler and it was touching the right side of the oil seal and had a gap on the left side. Should I just align the gimbal bearing sideways to meet the coupler or do you think my coupler is damaged from the abrupt halt from my outdrive locking up? Maybe the coupler is partially torn? I"ll take pictures when i can.

My thoughts are to do the sideways movement of the alignment tool while trying to push it in to the coupler, so that it at least meets the coupler opening. Then push the alignment tool into the coupler using little force until it binds up (if it binds up). Then remove the tool carefully, so you can see where the splines left marks in the grease coating on the tool.

That will give you and indication of the direction of mis-alignment.

As AllDodge mentioned the front mounts could be contributing to misalignment at the coupler.

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

Thanks alot for all the great info! Well i ended up buying a new coupler and pulling the motor. I wanted to inspect my rear engine mounts also. To me they look fine. The only thing that worries me is on one of the mounts the rubber is a little softer than the other. It also happens to be on the side that would make my alignment off the way it was (1in wooden dowel inserted was pointing to the right side). I will send a few pics.

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

All of my pictures are larger than 2mb so i says i cant upload them..

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

Im going to call it a night and try again tomorrow. The coupler looked to be in good shape. Im wondering if i should change out these rear mounts? They dont look distorted just one is a little softer than the other. Thanks again guys for all the advise!

 

[1990 Fourwinns 220H]

I was worried about the lower unit too but when i drained the lube it looked brand new so hopefully im good.

 

[tpenfield]

Reduce the 'size' of the pictures to 800 x 600 and they will upload. In Windoze you can open them in Paint and choose 'resize'. In Mac you can use Preview and 'adjust size',

 

[alldodge]

Im wondering if i should change out these rear mounts?

If one of more is soft or it is high/lower then the other then yes, otherwise its your call

 

[Bt Doctur]

I just did a cobra with the same issue. customer replaced the motor after a coupler failure and is was off laterally. Loosen and remove the rear nuts and large thick washer, remove the front lags. shift motor in direction needed to align .
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