Mercuriser alpha 1 gen 2 Out drive will not slide in the last 1"

[Rick Stephens]

^ agree. I like to eyeball the gimbal bearing with a flashlight, look right through it at the coupler. I can get a good idea of whether it is aimed near enough to start my alignment bar. Use the alignment bar to make adjustment until it looks straight on. Once I have the alignment bar into the coupler, I use a dead blow hammer and give the alignment bar 4 pretty solid hits - left, right, up and down. I want that gimbal bearing as close to straight as I can get it. Only then do I start working on alignment.

I think AllDodge or Bondo had a drawing of an alignment bar inside a coupler and how raising and lowering the front mounts changed the angle. Be a nice thing to post here.

 

[tazzerblue5]

Well I had a few minutes and hit the bar on all 4 sides. it went in another 3/4 in. but still sounds like its hitting against the splines???or whatever. I'll try again later... I'll try and find a 1" shaft to see if its centered.

 

[achris]

Stick a thin dowel all the way in and make sure you don't have a plug of grease locking you out.

 

[Bt Doctur]

 

[dlogvine]

I had a similar problem with the outdrive not sliding in. Appeared that the gimbal bearing was not flushed in and after a couple heavy hits with a mallet by my mechanic with an appropriate tool ( which I doing the gimbal bearing replacement for the very first time was very reluctant to do), so after that the outdrive slid in without any difficulty. And alignment was fine all the time. Anyways, why don't you take the whole thing back to the dealer and make them install the outdrive themselves? It might cost you $20-30, or they could do it for free as long as you ***** enough about their problematic gimbal bearing installation. Good luck

 

[tazzerblue5]

Well the Deed is DONE!! After another 2 hrs. I finally got the out drive installed. And contrary to some advice I did have to adjust the engine mounts!! I'll post a couple of photo's, but after moving the gimble all around and not having any success I put a 1" pipe in and could see the problem. alignment was off about 3/16-1/4 in. I adjusted the front of the engine up 4-5 turns total. 3 before I could get the alignment tool in and then 2 more to get the correct spline marks on the tool. It never did just slide in and out or spin like some of the videos, but the drive slid on nicely. I'm still waiting for my manual... Thanks, ebay.
Thanks for all the reply's they did help!!

 

[Bt Doctur]

So the next question is how the dealer aligned it and charged you

 

[tazzerblue5]

I'll call them today.
Edit: I'm sure I'll just get well he forgot or it was good when it left.. Needless to say I won't be taking any boat work there again. Yes they are human, and its possible. but at $500.00 for the bellows and gimble install I would have done myself also. So I bought the tool. It was a Learning Experience I won't soon forget. And I was able to do with the help of this forum.

 

[AKJohne]

Well the Deed is DONE!! After another 2 hrs. I finally got the out drive installed. And contrary to some advice I did have to adjust the engine mounts!! I'll post a couple of photo's, but after moving the gimble all around and not having any success I put a 1" pipe in and could see the problem. alignment was off about 3/16-1/4 in. I adjusted the front of the engine up 4-5 turns total. 3 before I could get the alignment tool in and then 2 more to get the correct spline marks on the tool. It never did just slide in and out or spin like some of the videos, but the drive slid on nicely. I'm still waiting for my manual... Thanks, ebay.
Thanks for all the reply's they did help!!

If it doesnt slide in and out easily, I would be suspect of a proper alignment. unless you have experience in this... just because the shaft goes all the way in does not mean its correct.. What happens is one will "chase" alignment by moving the mounts... it will get better but if it doesn't slide in and out ez and mark the shaft properly it may not be right. I did this repeatedly, moving front mounts and even shimming the rears, bought new springs, fiber washers, shim kit... etc, etc. I even pulled the motor to check if the transom was parallel (it had a new transom).

When its right you will feel it and see it, I am not saying your is not right, but the key is when the tool slides in and out very easy, id it doesn't do that its not right. TWO fingers is all it should take..... Just MHO.....

 

[tazzerblue5]

It is what it is. I couldn't mic the tool, or push that in the gimble with 2 fingers. then you add the spline. I just wonder how the old one ran. It's not like setting up gears in a transmission or diff and needing a exact backlash.