Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

[Jeremy420]

Hey guys.. 1990 3.0L alpha one.. was running fine started leaking water from the u-joint bellows, so took it in to fix it, the gimbal bearing was bad too.

Replaced the gimbal bearing and the alignment tool shaft is hitting on the starboard side of the coupler just before the splines... not the top or bottom. So I need to align side to side not up and down.. How do you align it side to side? The alignment has been perfect for years and the drive came off easily.

I can see the new gimbal is tweaked to the right but the thing won't move with the alignment tool.. is there a trick to get the bearing to move or "gimbal" in the cartridge?? Why wasn't the bearing straight in the cartridge?? Been fighting this for hours.. are you supposed to put the tool in and try to push it(force it) to the side you need to move it to.. it doesn't budge and yes it's greased... I can't believe its giving me this much trouble, I usually do all my work.. If it's of interest the gimbal bearing is from SEI.. their full kit..

I have the correct alignment tool and this bearing just won't budge man it doesn't move in the cartridge at all.. would I need to get the hammer out to get it to move?? I don't think I should try to drive the bearing into the cartrige to straigten it either... Do I make the engine crooked to match up to this crooked bearing?

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

The bearing should move. It my take a little persuasion. Try inserting the alignment bar, making sure it doesn't interfere with the engine coupler and striking the alignment bar with a rubber mallet.

 

[Don S]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

Try inserting the alignment bar, making sure it doesn't interfere with the engine coupler and striking the alignment bar with a rubber mallet.

Tap it side to side, up and down to get the inner bearing alligned with the outer bearing carrier.
The inner bearing moves very stiff inside the outer carrier. That's normal

 

[Jeremy420]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

OK will try,thanks guys!! Just needed a little assurance that I wouldn't damage it...

I already have the bell housing and bellows on.. maybe I was supposed to alilgn it before I got that stuff in the way.. would have been easier.. oh well I will have to try to deal with it.. turning the bell housing to get the bar to move far enough to the left.. Thanks

 

[Don S]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

The gimbal bearing can be changed and realigned without taking the bellows and bellhousing off. Makes no difference in ease of alignment.
You do have ot make sure the bearing is all the way into the gimbal housing, if not, the drive will not go all the way on.

Here is a link to the online service manual for your drive. You may find it handy.
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/6/6covr3.pdf

 

[Big Boat Bay Buster]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

Try this link,surf this web sight it might help. One pic shows a 1/2 extesion being used to help seat the bearing.
http://www.mercstuff.com/gimbalbearing.htm

Why is the link only 9 pages?
Chris

 

[Jeremy420]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

Ok inserted end of alignment bar and I had to hit it with a very heavy hammer to finally get it to move, now it looks and feels like it is centered in the cartridge, Even space around it..

Yeah Don, the bell housing was no trouble.. the bearing is fully seated, I marked the old one's position and this one went in about 1/8 inch more before it bottomed out..

Bay Buster, I did use that link before; good site!

OK engine alignment seems ok, alignment bar moves on and out easily. Problem now is the alignment adjusting screw is up too high to put the stop nut on... Do I need to adjust the gimbal bearing downward and re-adjust alignment to get the engine more level?

Ok I did kinda screw up.. the new alignment tool didn't want to fit into the gimbal bearing, it had a coating on it so I sanded it off.. it didn't seem like enough - (the bar fit very tightly in the bearing, I thought too tight..) so I sanded more off.. Well when I got the alignment good now I notice just a tad bit of looseness in the end of the bar when its fully inserted, so its not perfect.. Opps should not have done that!!!!

Drive had to be presuaded to go one... At any rate I have an old drive shaft to use to get it just right.... back off with the outdrive!

 

[Don S]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

If you had to use that much force to move the gimbal bearing insides, there is something wrong with the bearing. I don't know what, I didn't see you install it or what you used, or how you did it, but they don't move that hard.

I gave you the link to the manual, you need to go over what you did and compare to how it should be done.

http://www.boatfix.com/merc/Servmanl/13/13covr2.pdf Is the link for the engine manual.

Click here for the section on alignment on page 2A-7

 

[Jeremy420]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

Ok Don I follow.. I do have the sevice manual.. the link provided is only 6 pages.. but the alignment section you gave is very usefull!!
anyway..

I have installed other bearings before, I work at a mechanics shop. Used good bearing and race drivers and only hit on the outer diameter of the cartridge/ Race with bearing tool, never hit the inner bearing part.. it seemed to go in fine..

So with the alignment; I am going to try moving the gimbal bearing to angle it down a tad to see if I can align it better.. get the front of the engine down.. is that right?


As far as the Gimbal bearing it's self.. I guess that will have to be another thread....

*update*

Good news my friends!! Gimbal bearing moves fairly easily now, probably like normal!!
Must have been just that inital move was difficult, I think I am in the clear now.. phewww

Realigning now..

 

[Don S]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

Ok Don I follow.. I do have the sevice manual.. the link provided is only 6 pages..

That section I linked to came from that manual, I just posted it seperate to save you time looking. You obviously didn't look at the manual for the drive either, since they both work the same way.
Scroll to the last page and you will find the outline, then click on the section LETTER you want to view and/or save to your computer.

 

[Jeremy420]

Re: Trouble Aligning Gimbal bearing and engine

Yeah Don, you da man!!

Sorry, I didn't notice they were links.. you can't tell unless you mouse over them.. my bad!! I do have the drive manual right here, but not the engine manual.. thanks soooo much for the link!

Got the front of the engine down and re-aligned so I can get the stop nut on the bottom of the alignment adjuster! The Drive is on and everything is ready, going to hook up the ears and see how she runs and shifts!!

I had to really push the drive on when I got to the o-rings in the last inch; they seem to fit really tight in this bearing, I guess I needed to oil them.. the grease wasn't enough, or too much. lol

I should be on the water soon!!