Twin Outdrive Allignment

[iznod33]

My outdrives are toed inward 1". Is this correct or should they be straight?
My drives are counter rotating.
Thanks, Craig

[Cuda]

That sounds like a lot. I had mine towed in a quarter inch on my 242 with twins.

[MOP]

I like 1/2-3/4" some a bit more depending on how the boat is setup. I don't feel 1/4 is enough, It would be great to run at -0- for best speed but the gimbles and steering gets tired quicker.

Phil

[iznod33]

Phil,
What do you mean by "tired quicker"?



I like 1/2-3/4" some a bit more depending on how the boat is setup. I don't feel 1/4 is enough, It would be great to run at -0- for best speed but the gimbles and steering gets tired quicker.

Phil

[MOP]

Mr. Poodle has it right, there is a lot more to this and some experimentation is in order for best results. My experience with alignment is limited to the recommendations in the manuals and some fiddling over the years most all of which was on stock not high performance stuff, I know from speaking with others and my own experience the rules are not hard and fast.
You are addressing two things with drive alignment, eliminating stress on parts due to drive oscillation and boat performance. If the drives have -0- toe in or out they will oscillate and wear steering components and gimble's. Different hull types require different setup, some need toe in and some toe out a lot depends on the wash off the hull at speed. From what I have seen deep V's all benefit best from toe in, we setup almost all at 3/4". A point that was explained to me is by toeing in a deep V you spread the thrust gaining efficiency both in speed and economy. I am sure much can be added to this by guys that have done testing on high performance boats.

Phil

[iznod33]

Sounds not so cut and dry. I do have a tie bar with what appears to be stock steering on the port side with a link bar to the starboard. Props rotate out. There seems to be some wobble maybe 1/2-3/4" or so??? Haven't got up to speed yet but hopefully the new fuel pumps I ordered this weekend will solve that problem. Boat seems to steer fine at slower (45mph) speeds but I'm a little concerned about what it will be at speed??? Can't seem to find where an adjustment might be to tighten it up. BY the way I'm running 400hp 454's with bw's and trs drives with 24P 4 blade bravo's, any idea what I should expect for speed.
Thanks for your help, Craig

[iznod33]

There is an external tie bar as well as internal tiller to tiller as you mentioned.
The slop appears to be more in the steering cylinder than gimbles. Need to see if I get same slop with pump running. In the middle of an oil change now so I'll check that when finished.



You mention a tie bar,m is it an external one, connecting drive to drive, or internal connecting tiller arm to tiller arm?

One thing to take into account is the torque reacton of the drives. usually a bit of toe out will help, no mre then1/8-1/4". when the drives are pushing the boat, the flex in the tiller arm and slop in gimble will let them move a skoosh and they end up close to straight.

You also mention some slop in the gimbles. Could the prior owner have toed them in to compensate?