Gimbal Bearing Alignment

[maa melee]

I have my Cobra outdrive off and just turned out an OMC alignment bar. It slides in easily through the gimbal bearing and all the way into the coupler, but not as easily as I think it should. I have a feeling this is caused by the gimbal bearing misalignment because the engine wasn't pulled and nothing was moved. I am getting slightly deeper spline marks in the grease on my AB on the top than on the bottom. Before I start moving the front motor mounts, I want to make sure the gimbal bearing is aligned.<br /><br />Tried it out again and my gimbal bearing won't...gimbal. The inner race will hardly angle, although the rotation is very free. About how many degrees of motion are we really talking about here? I inserted my AB backwards to get the 1.375" diameter into the inner race of the gimbal bearing and tried adjusting the inner race angle by hand, with light pressure. It didn't angle.<br /><br />I have a GM 5.0L 305 V8 and OMC Cobra outdrive, both from 1988.

 

[Don S]

Re: Gimbal Bearing Alignment

You aren't going to get the angle to change easily. If you have the alignment bar into the coupler, TAP (don't beat it to death) the alignment bar up, down, side to side with a rubber mallet. That will center the bearing as much as possible.<br />Then do your alignment checks.<br />If it shows the top of bar is tighter than the lower part, lower the front mounts equally a little at a time till the bar goes in easily and has equal marks.<br />Turn the engine 180° and check it again. If all is aligned, tighten the mounts and recheck.