Small Debacle (watch video) Alignment / Motor Mount / Spun Random Pulley? Alpha 1 Gen 2, 4.3L

[waterdogMI]

Small Debacle (watch video) Alignment / Motor Mount / Spun Random Pulley? Alpha 1 Gen 2, 4.3L

Thanks everyone in advance for any help or advice
1995 XXX
Alpha 1 Gen 2
Mercruiser 4.3L
Engine Serial: xxx
TransomSerial: xxx
Drive Serial: OF xxx
(Edited By CS)


Long story short, I picked this boat up this spring and it runs/drives great. It's got XXX hours and appears to have been well kept. I've began to notice a rattle/rumble when turning the engine a bit side to side, it was very slight but today I decided to pull the drive and check the bearing/u-joints, etc.

Pulling the drive revealed a good looking and tight u-joint, and the gimble bearing runs smooth and has no play in it. I then checked the alignment to find that the tool went in, but required a bit of pressure. My largely un-educated guess was that the lack of proper alignment has resulted in some noise. So I began some adjustments and it has slowly progressed into a 3 pronged debacle.

1. I've raised the front motor mounts 1.5 full turns and the alignment stick still requires moderate pressure, and the grease shows the spline marked on the bottom more than the top (see video 1). It seems like 1.5 full turns is a lot, but this is an older boat.. hoping it's not something more significant. Video 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzZk39HVISE

2. While adjusting the front-port motor mount bolt began spinning in its base (see video 2). I understand that lifting the engines with these bolts is putting a lot of pressure on them. So do I now have to replace the entire motor mount? Video 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i38T2ZUxaA8

3. This is where my wits had completely escaped me. The instructions for alignment indicate that you need to rotate the engine 90 degrees and re-check the alignment. Without thinking, I tried to crank it over bare-handed by rotating the pulley (shown in video 2). It slipped on the belt slightly less than 1/4 turn. Nothing else rotated except for this pulley. I figured it was just a water pump, so I then thought of another brilliant way of rotating the engine.. by turning the kill switch off and just kicking the engine over with the starter. That resulted in zero engine movement, the starter just clicked. It then dawned on me that I might have rotated the cam shaft, and messed things up. So what is the pulley that I rotated?

 

[waterdogMI]

Regrding #1
Well, I might have just discovered why I am having to push the tool in so far. The ebay alignment tool bottoms out in the coupling much deeper than the splines on the actual shift. Any idea how deep the tool should go in?

 

[Grub54891]

Nothing wrong with the pully spinning. It's all OK. Whatever you do,, do not put a wrench on the crankshaft bolt to turn the motor. You will break or strip that bolt and that is not good. Pull your sparkplugs, ground the coil ire and tick it over that way. I use a remote start switch myself. As far as your alignment, when you have the bar in, whack the bar with a Rubber mallet up down sideways. That aligns the bearing to the motor splines, adjust accordingly.

 

[waterdogMI]

1. Thank you for the mallet suggestion. I did set the bearing with a tool that came with the alignment tool. But to be sure, I followed your advice, here is result https://youtu.be/M-tV3y4j1Cc I also did a quick demonstration of u-joint condition here https://youtu.be/D_LcFDyGHrk

2. I was thinking, if I do indeed need to raise the engine higher via loosening the front mount bolt, would it help if I attempted to take some load off the bolt when loosening? Again, check video 2 in original post.

3. Thanks to Grub54891, this is solved. Much appreciated.

 

[Grub54891]

The alignment bar is longer than the splined shaft. It should go all the way in till it stops. You can whack it a bit harder than than what you did. The bearing articulates in its housing, to line it up perfectly with the shaft. Look at your old bearing and you will see it can move up or down etc... You can take load off the motor for aligning, but you have to raise the front only, by hooking a hoist to the front lifting eye on the motor. The rear mounts stay tight where they are. I've heard of rear mounts collapsing but never had that problem myself, and I've done alot of them.

 

[nola mike]

You probably have enough room to double nut the top and use that to keep the shaft from turning. However I'd be concern that the mount is compromised and you might run into more problems the next time you try to adjust. If that bottom nut isn't seized then lifting the engine should help, but not sure why you would need to adjust it up that high if there's so much resistance

 

[waterdogMI]

Thank you - and just to confirm, if the grease on my alignment tool shows splines dug into grease more on the bottom, and less the top.. that means the engine needs to go up (loosen) on the front mounts? Video of alignment results https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-tV3y4j1Cc&feature=youtu.be

 

[GA_Boater]

It has been brought to my attention that my original post here contains personal information about my boat (serial numbers). I would like the post taken down entirely. You can just unpublish/delete the whole thread. Thank you!

The above is a Flag post report from the OP. Serial numbers are necessary information when requesting assistance. It wasn't needed for this particular thread because alignment is a rather generic operation. Bear in mind - When you need help in other areas, such as part replacement, adjustment or troubleshooting, the first question will be "What are your serial numbers?".

Deleting the thread - No. The serial numbers will be deleted and you will be asked for them in the future if you need help. Many members add those serial number to their signature and we haven't had any stolen boats, engines or outdrives because a post had serial numbers.

Thank you colonel_sanders for the edit.