First Time Gimbal Bearing and Alignment

[dg512055]

Well I have now installed a new gimbal bearing and I have an alignment tool that came with the bearing installer. Sure made the job easy. Put the bearing in the freezer for 10 hours and it hammered right in. I have a question on the alignment. I had heavy drag marks on the right side of the tool. I have ended up with the starboard mount as high as it will go and the port mount about halfway up the threaded stud. The motor is sitting noticably unlevel in the boat, but the tool slides in and out with "two fingers" as requried. Should I have any concerns here?. I have turned the motor to all 4 90 degree positions and the tool and marks are the same in each position.

 

[Bondo]

Re: First Time Gimbal Bearing and Alignment

Ayuh,.... In the Begining,...
Did you shake/ tap/ slap the bar in the gimbel bearing to generally center it in it's gimbel ring,..??
Did you shake/ wiggle/ settle the motor on it's mounts,..??

Normally, radical changes in alignment, due to a gimbel bearing swap, are reason to look deeper to see what changed....

 

[Don S]

Re: First Time Gimbal Bearing and Alignment

Have a look at the link below, it has about all the information and links to videos you should ever need to align your engine.

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?p=2971085#post2971085

 

[kewlkatdady]

Re: First Time Gimbal Bearing and Alignment

quick question....

when it says "rotate the engine 90*...and recheck alignment."

is that talking about putting a breaker bar on the crank bolt and moving from 9 to 12 (like on a clock face)?

 

[Fishermark]

Re: First Time Gimbal Bearing and Alignment

Yep - although I like turning the engine over using a different method personally - but that is the concept. You want to make sure it is centered and there are no manufacturing defects making it out of round.

 

[dg512055]

Re: First Time Gimbal Bearing and Alignment

I did the hammer whack to the alignment tool on each side and top/bottom to get the bearing aligned in the housing. I turned the motor with a ratchet on the harmonic dampener bolt and checked in 4 positions before I started moving the mount bolts. I loosend the lower mount bolts in the stringers to let the motor move if it wanted. I did not move much if any. Also note that the up/down mount nuts did not seem to ever be in a bind. The motor would still sit with weight on each lower nut. The rear mounts seem to be in good condition. Checked again tonight and the bar still slides in and out easily. I am going to bolt the drive back up and wait til spring. Thanks for all the information I have found here to make this project work!