How to tell if rear motor mounts are bad

[Strawhead]

I have an alpha one gen 2 outdrive with the 5.0 v8 I just replaced the bellows on and can not get it aligned to get the outdrive back on. The front motor mounts are all the way down and it feels like the front of the motor still needs to come down. Only thing I can think of is that the rear motor mounts are shot but I want confirmation before I pull the motor. I took a couple of pictures not sure if it helpful since it hard to get a good pic in that cramped area.

 

[achris]

Did you try to move the gimbal bearing? It may have moved as you pulled the drive off...

Chris...

 

[Strawhead]

Yes, I had the alignment tool partially in the coupler and hit it by hand side to side and it has a little movement. When I hit the top of the alignment tool it is pretty solid. When I first put the alignment tool in before I adjusted the motor mounts I was only getting grease marks on the top and the bottom had no contact.

 

[JerryIrons]

I've used rubber mallet to hit it all 4 directions. It should swivel around like an eyeball in eye socket, just maybe not so easily.

 

[harringtondav]

Try moving the gimbal bearing per above suggestions. Tapping the tool's handle upward would be my choice. It's difficult to get much bearing swivel with the 1.010" pilot in the engine coupler. The bearing is 1.375" inside diameter. Some suggest using a 1 3/8" pipe or dowel inserted in the bearing to ginch it around. My alignment tool has a removable handle which I remove and insert it backward to move the bearing.

I hate to bum you out, but if you can't get it to align it's probably either your rear mounts, or worse, your transom could be soft. My pal had your problem, and new mounts didn't help. Turned out the lower part of his transom was mush, causing the bottom of the transom assembly to sag.

 

[Strawhead]

Thanks for the help! It looks like the bearing was not moving with the alignment tool. It really felt like it was moving around when I hit it each way.