Mercruiser alignment issues

[tigger3650]

Looking at all the couplers online. The only ones with a shaft that protrudes beyond the rubber are the triangle style. They are also the only ones that have a grease fitting. I have not ran it without the drive, however, with the drive on and straight it doesn't rattle. I don't think running without the drive would tell me much.

I did pull the drive this morning. Found the new ujoint broke where the c clip goes, casing the joint to slide, broke the grease fitting off and can see where it was hitting the tabs on the bearing retainer nut. That ujoint was a moog, and appears to have slightly taller cups than the ones that came with my kit. I'm off to Car Quest to get another joint. I'm going to put the smaller joint on the aft portion and the new moog to the front. I don't think this will solve the rattle, but I think this may have been a consequence of the rattle.

 

[nola mike]

I have not ran it without the drive, however, with the drive on and straight it doesn't rattle.

I can't see why turning the drive should cause an issue with the coupler.

 

[tigger3650]

I can't see why turning the drive should cause an issue with the coupler.

That was my train of thought too.

Tried moving the ujoint and ended up ruining it. Now I need to wait to get 2 more. I. Not going the moogs again, the caps are too tall. I'm going to get the actual marine ones, maybe SEI or Sierra

 

[nola mike]

I just put Moogs on my alpha one, and duralast has ones that work in stock at autozone or advance auto...
And so, at this point, you still haven't had both u-joints replaced and working, right?

 

[Rick Stephens]

I would bet quite a bit of money that there is no such thing as an 'actual marine u-joint'. Sierra, MCM et al would just buy from whichever auto manufacturer gives them the appropriate deal. I went to my local NAPA and they had the NEAPCO, worked fine. I used Spicer in the next one I did. HEre's the crossover list:

SPICER# 5-1306X
ROCKFORD# K1306
DETROIT# 7260
NEAPCO# 1-6300 / 1-6301
PRECISION (MOOG)# 315G
TRW (FEDERAL MOGUL)# 20030 / 20030P

 

[nola mike]

And here's the autozone duralast that I used last time. I had a hard time finding anything locally in stock from Rick Stephens list:
1-6301DL

 

[tigger3650]

I took some time tonight and sanded all the cup seats on the yokes. Once the crud was gone I could see a Fer of them were pretty beat up. I polished them good with some more sanding and then hit them with the Dremel a polishing pad and some Red polishing rue. Got them all shined up and slick and then a thin coat of marine grease. Coated the new u joints with some grease and slowly worked them in. I took some time but I was being extra cautious. Buying $40 worth of u joints just to throw away was getting costly. I tried taking it to a few places around here to have it done but only one guy would even touch it and he wanted nearly $500 just to put the u joints in and reinstall the drive. Most aces will only replace the entire shaft assembly, and charge $700 just for parts!

At any rate the joints are in. It went very smooth. Tomorrow I will put the outdrive back on and see what happens. If that doesn't solve it, I don't have a clue what to do next. I have another outdrive that came from the donor boat down in Florida. I don't know it it's a Gen 1 or Gen 2. I'm waiting for a call back to find out. If it is a Gen 1, I will have him get it ready to put in (new lube, water pump, and u joints if needed). I am meeting a friend of mine from that area in the Keys for the week and he said he thinks he will be able to bring the drive down with him. With as many times as I have taken that drive off and out it back on, I figure it will be about a 1hr job in a campground.

I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.

Keep throwing ideas at me if this doesn't work

 

[tigger3650]

I would bet quite a bit of money that there is no such thing as an 'actual marine u-joint'. Sierra, MCM et al would just buy from whichever auto manufacturer gives them the appropriate deal. I went to my local NAPA and they had the NEAPCO, worked fine. I used Spicer in the next one I did. HEre's the crossover list:

SPICER# 5-1306X
ROCKFORD# K1306
DETROIT# 7260
NEAPCO# 1-6300 / 1-6301
PRECISION (MOOG)# 315G
TRW (FEDERAL MOGUL)# 20030 / 20030P

The ones I got today were from Napa, I think they were the TWRs. They seemed to fit better than the Moogs.

 

[Rick Stephens]

The ones I got today were from Napa, I think they were the TWRs. They seemed to fit better than the Moogs.

Great news. Can't wait to hear how it runs. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[tigger3650]

Great news. Can't wait to hear how it runs. Fingers crossed for you.

Just got the outdrive in and spun it up..........




No more rattle! :laugh:

Only took 3 weeks and 6 u-joints

Water test tomorrow !

 

[tigger3650]

Water test went great. Now to put the new VHF in and the flag pole. Only issue, bad bulb in one of the trailer lights. I just happened to have a new set of LEDs to put in!

 

[Rick Stephens]

Water test went great. Now to put the new VHF in and the flag pole. Only issue, bad bulb in one of the trailer lights. I just happened to have a new set of LEDs to put in!

A big congratulations on getting the vibration gone. I know it weren't easy, but positively worth every bruised knuckle.

 

[tigger3650]

A big thanks to all of you folks on the forums ! Definitely more helpful than any of the mechanics around here!

 

[tigger3650]

I just thought I would post and update after the trip to the Keys. I put 2 new tires on the trailer only to have both valve stems fail in North Carolina. Replaced those, the tire shop didn't even charge me!! I gave the tech $20 and continued on my way. Made it there without any other issues. put the boat in the water and headed out to explore a little. As I was pulling up to the first reef, I kicked the motor into neutral and EVERYTHING died. No power to ANYTHING except the trolling motor. It is wired directly to its batteries. Used it to tie off to the mooring buoy and sent everyone into the water while I investigated. I found the terminal lug on the starter solenoid where all the dash power comes from had broken. "I can fix this", except I had ZERO connector repair resources on the boat!! I looked around for a minute and saw that one of the battery cable terminals could be easily removed. I attacked it with a pair of needle nose and a screwdriver and re-crimped it onto the wires of the broken terminal. BAM! Fixed and back in business!! The next day I promptly went to the nearest parts store and bought a replacement terminal and some connector repair tools to keep in the boat.

That was the only hiccup for the entire trip. We had an awesome time, got to snorkel a bunch of the reefs and catch a few fish. The Admiral had such a good time, she wants to do it again next year.


I can't THANK YOU ALL ENOUGH ON THIS FORUM FOR ALL THE HELP AND KNOWLEDGE YOU PROVIDE!!! Without it, this trip may have never happened. Now I think it may become a yearly tradition!! Again, thank you all for the help!!!


Mike