pulled the drive and cant get it back on!!

[Planetwarmer]

I pulled the drive to change the gimble bearing, and now the drive still has an inch to go. Any suggestions?

I bumped the starter while it was in gear and the prop shaft turns so, Im assuming the splines are aligned.

The only thing I did was pull the drive, swap the gimble bearing, replace the seals. I did start the boat while the drive was off to confirm the bearing noise I was hearing wasnt in the motor. I thought the bearing might seated, so I pulled the drive off abain and made sure it was.

[Carl C]

Did it come off easy? If not I'd check the alignment.

[gcarter]

One word.........

Alignment..........

Get a tool, a manual, and get on it!
You can do it.

[Carl C]

I got my alignment spot on this spring and the drive slid effortlessly all the way in. Put sticky grease on the splines.

[mrfixxall]

if you have a aleignment tool greece it ul and shove it in..the bearing may be out of aleignment,sometimes you may have to hit the end at 12,3,6,and 9 oclock position to center it..also if you replacer the orings closest to the u joints you naat to apply greece to them..

[joseph m. hahnl]

:smash: I use friendly persuasion.

Some times it needs just a little more force to get the O rings seated.

Note: grease does not compress . If you get to much grease, ahead of the spline,it will be hard to seat .

And always, watch the shifter alignment as you go.

[Carbo]

Even a little rust on the shaft by the orings will make it very tight going into the gimble bearing. Make sure the shaft is clean before installing the orings.

[Planetwarmer]

the drive slid off easily. I dont see how the engine could have gotten out of alignment from the time I took the drive off and reinstalled it a day later.

[Planetwarmer]

Im going to take the input shaft off the drive and see what its doing inside the gimble. It would be easier to see what is going on and I wont be fighting the drive. Im also going to mic the inside diameter of the bearing and compare it to the outside diameter of the shaft. It really seems like the shaft is getting wedged in there. I had to use a pry-bar and a dead blow hammer to get the drive off the 2nd time I tried to make the thing fit.

If I find that an alignment is needed, how do I do that?

[Carl C]

If you have a friendly boat dealer near by they might lend you the tool or you can buy one here: http://www.mercstuff.com/alignmenttool.htm I got the ITS tool. The two pieces make it easy to see the misalignment and get it right. There are threads here that describe the alignment procedure. Search 'em.

[axelkloehn]

the drive slid off easily. I dont see how the engine could have gotten out of alignment from the time I took the drive off and reinstalled it a day later.

it is not the engine which is out of alignment, it is the new gimble bearing. Have a look at the old one and you will find out you can pivot it horizontally and vertically inside its outer metal ring, it's a swivel bearing- you need the alignment tool to get it aligned with the shaft/engine when it is installed, almost no other way...

[MOP]

+1 with bearing being slightly cocked within the race, extremely common! The best way to fix is with the alignment tool, put the tool in and as far is it will go freely then whack it with your hand in all directions as soon as the bearing 0's in the tool will slip in and out like butter.
(http://www.donzi.net/forums/member.php?u=9452)

[joseph m. hahnl]

Have a look at the old one and you will find out you can pivot it horizontally and vertically inside its outer metal ring, it's a swivel bearing...

yes: It is called a spherical bearing
http://www.accentbearing.com/bearings/rod%20ends/41333.jpg

[Conquistador_del_mar]

I don't know if this is relevant since I don't know what drive you have, but it sounds like you can install the drive to the point where either the splined input shaft or the bearing surface of the input shaft is not allowing the drive to go on any further. As the others have stated, an alignment tool would make sure it is aligned correctly. What I was going to add is that my TRS drive acted the same way. I discovered that the input shaft has a very slight squared shoulder machined on the shaft at the forward edge of the surface where the bearing seats. It was catching the new bearing so I simply filed it a little (very little) to create a slight bevel instead of a sharp leading edge. The drive went right on after I did this. Just wanted to pass this along in case it is relevant. Bill

[thescooter]

i agree
Alignment..........
get the tool.
it is not that hard a job,

[joseph m. hahnl]

Im going to take the input shaft off the drive and see what its doing inside the gimble.
If I find that an alignment is needed, how do I do that?



Using the input shaft in this manner, will be exactly like using an alignment tool. The tool's only benefit is you don't have to take the U joint apart.

http://www.mercruiserparts.com/images/CRUISER/99964/30066.png
http://i6.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/fc/fa/51f0_1.JPGhttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BRAVO-ALPHA-OMC-ENGINE-ALIGNMENT-TOOL-MERCRUISER-/280620649218

[MOP]

You are opening a can of worms pulling the upper apart not a good move!

[Walt. H.]

You are opening a can of worms pulling the upper apart not a good move!
Listen to what Mop said!!!
As long as your alignment shaft goes in and comes out with equal smoothness and the shadow of the splines from the grease appear equally even on your test alignment tool, you should be able to send your drive all the way home past the mounting studs with a little forceful up & down forward jiggling of the drive.
But Note: keep making sure your shift tab stays inline on your drive so it goes together with the matching female shift tab on the gimbal in the forward shift position!

Found this on You Tube: one video pic is better then a thousand words...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-g6fFYtDLw

http://www.perfprotech.com/store/app_themes/ppt/images/tech-specs/drive-install.pdf

[Planetwarmer]

I borrowed an alignment tool today. We shall see how it works now.:smash::smash:

[MOP]

At first it will go in the same amount the drive did then as I explained earlier using the palm of your hand smack the end of the tool until it slides in. The bearings come straight in the box they need to be coaxed to the transom angle.

[Planetwarmer]

I got the tool to go in now. It was too easy! I tried to slide the input shaft in (Im putting on new U-Joints) to see what happened, and it stops about an inch short of going all the way. Im afraid of putting too much pressure on it, because I would never get it back out!! I looked at the splines, and they look like brand new. Should I just put the thing back together and use a dead_blow to help the drive on?

[Phil S]

Grease-"backpressure" on the splines or bellows...(already mentioned above) Try taking a large screwdriver placed in the u-joint "gap" and move the shaft slightly left and right whilst applying slight inward pressure on the drive. If you do it "right", the drive is suspended from above or below, and you end up looking like you are "humping" your boat.

(my wife caught me doing this one time....a lot of explaining to do, but the drive slipped right on)

She's always been jealous of the boat anyway. ;)

Doubt this helps,...but ya never know..

Phil S.

[Carl C]

Are the O-rings too thick? Did you put vaseline or something on them?

[Rootsy]

Alpha, Bravo, TRS, etc????? Which one are you trying to put back on? Merc spline grease on the splines as well as a smear on the o-rings.

If it is an Alpha, do you have the shifter in the forward position?

[Pismo]

Sometimes they are not easy to put back on, even when everything is perfect. Give it a wack.

[VetteLT193]

On my Alpha I found that putting an automotive jack underneath the skeg to support it made life a lot easier. the last inch, like you are experiencing, is a PITA. It seemed by jacking it from the bottom I was able to fully support the thing and get it perfectly lined to pop it in place.

It takes a good old fashioned push. I was in the exact same situation as you where I was worried more than anything. I finally just pushed it hard and it went right in.

[Pismo]

On my Alpha I found that putting an automotive jack underneath the skeg to support it made life a lot easier. the last inch, like you are experiencing, is a PITA. It seemed by jacking it from the bottom I was able to fully support the thing and get it perfectly lined to pop it in place.
It takes a good old fashioned push. I was in the exact same situation as you where I was worried more than anything. I finally just pushed it hard and it went right in.

Floors jacks are very helpful.

[gcarter]

I encourage everyone to buy or build a stand.
All you do is line up the drive (trailer height) and stand and it's easy to move them on or off.

[Pismo]

I encourage everyone to buy or build a stand.
All you do is line up the drive (trailer height) and stand and it's easy to move them on or off.

A stand that is adjustable up and down on the fly would be perfect.

[Walt. H.]

A stand that is adjustable up and down on the fly would be perfect.
Not really necessary to have one that adjusts unless you are doing marine service for a living where time is money, all you need to do is adj your trailer tongue jack up or down for the proper transom assembly height you need, and You're In like Flint!

[gcarter]

Not really necessary to have one that adjusts unless you are doing marine service for a living, all you need to do is adj your trailer tongue jack up or down for the proper transom assembly height you need and You're In like Flint!

Yup!
That's the way to do it.

[MOP]

I can only be one of the two things mentioned! Orings not sliding into the bearings bore or the shift shoe twisted both of which will hold the drive from going in. Make sure the bearings bore is greased along with the Orings then check the shift shoe if it is Ok try a good hard kick.

[fogducker III]

I think Rootsy asked, Alpha, Bravo, TRS etc...:boggled:

Makes a difference......if Alpha, in gear...:confused:

If Bravo, in neutral...:confused:

If Bravo, is the shift cable binding and not slipping into the clip...:confused:

I would be unsure of giving specific advice if I did not know the actual application, just saying....:garfield:

[silverghost]

Did you ever chamfer bevel taper file the end of your drive's splined shaft slightly~~~ as has been suggested by Bill earlier ?
This may ease your final 1" installation.
&
Are you sure that your borrowed allignment tool went in far enough and hit all the way in~solid home ?
It may have the same 1" issue as your drive's input shaft.; and you might not really know it ?

[gcarter]

If an Alpha, not only does it have to be in gear, but the two linkage parts have to be able to clear each other.
Mine, the original Merc Alpha, had a tendency for the linkage pieces to shift slightly and the parts would hit but not engage and keep the drive from going in all the way. In fact, if this happens and you hit the drive hard enough, the links will bend.
Just to make sure, climb underneath the drive and look at the orientation of the linkage.

[VetteLT193]

yeah, plus 1 on in gear. totally forgot about that.

Old technology drive, frustrating, but it is cheap to work on so a catch 22 for sure. At the end of the day I'd rather the cash in my pocket and set of directions so it's all good:)

[Walt. H.]

Planetwarmer has written many times in the past about his sterndrive and it's definately a Alpha-1 generation 1, and one with a 1.36:1 gear ratio behind a 454 BBC in a 1988 22-C.

[Planetwarmer]

Yep, its a gen 1 alpha 1. I had the shifter in forward. To remove all doubt, I took the input shaft off of the drive and tried it that way. I inserted the alignment tool, it definitely went in all the way. I am going out of town, so I will have to mess with it next week. It turns out I needed to replace a u-joint anyways.

When I removed the input shaft, I also removed the O rings to remove that aspect.

[Rootsy]

Not only does the shifter need to be in forward, you need to make sure the drive is in forward. Those two parts need to mate or the drive will not go in the last inch or so...

To use an alignment tool properly you smear some grease on the last step of the shaft (the part that engages the coupler). Slide it STRAIGHT IN until it seats and pull it STRAIGHT out. You then look at the spline pattern and you can then tell if the motor is out of alignment relative to the gimble bearing. Ideally you want even contact 360 degrees around that alignment tool.

The input shaft already has a good 1/8th inch or so chamfer and unless the splines have burrs on them should need absolutely no doctoring