New ACME 540

I have not read the alignment procedure, but we pre-alignened with a feeler gauge. Then tightened the flange bolts. After that I rotated the prop by hand and it had a tough spot so my son moved each mount until it was free to rotate.

Be carefull, that new prop is sharp(sharper than me anyway)and I cut the hell out of my hand!

So JIH, in summary you have a Doubel D in your vibrating boat....let's wait for 79Nauty to chime in....

I would aggree this is a good starting point if nothing else, but it does make since, provided that the stuffness is form the coupler and not internal to the tranny or stuffing box. I guess you could loosen the stuffing box and slide it up the shaft some to eleminate it as a possible cause.

I did mine by starting off using the feeler gauge at the coupling and then by feel when I drove it. I backed off the jam nuts and then cranked on the jack screws with an adjustable a little at a time until I could not feel any vibration in the wheel or seat. And stairing at the DD well just distract you from the job at hand so horray up and get'r done and go back to the important stuff... the DD's

    Well guys, I pulled my onvoice and found out that my prop is a 12.50X15.000VR3B 1.00 .105 prop. Thats what my invoice says exactly. What is this???

Jeff, can't help you too much on the VR3B. Looks like a 12.5" Dia. x 15" Pitch with a 1" bore and .105" cup. How does it run?

Probably pick up 5 Free HP getting that prop to turn freely. I work in a business that frequently aligns very large engines/generators or tranny's or even high speed turbines to gear boxes and the Engineers always talk about the incredible amount of HP wasted in misalignment.

Those rough spots...or the place where you have to set down the beer so you can double up and turn the prop...send a harmonic all the way from your Flex Plate into the Harmonic balancer making your engine work harder.

These guy's who specialize in alignments all say the same thing...they don't care what the runouts are or feeler gauge work said prior to assembly...you have to turn them by hand (post assembly) to get a feel for what's wrong. It's amazing science but a huge gearbox can be turned by hand and if even a small imperfection is present, you can feel it when rotating by hand.

I had one that the idle speed increased after we aligned it...not much...but noticeable...it even rattled the flex plate and this boat had been "aligned" by a Marina with the PO. New CC's are very well aligned so someone at the Factory knows what they are doing and how important it is. (Not wanting to rant...and I own a new CC also...but I always hear new owners complain about a st*tch in a seam being off or some other trivial BS and although we pay a lot of money when you look at all the really cool design in these boats I quickly shut-up, start the engine and enjoy...better not to sweat the samll stuff) The alignement is not small stuff IMHO.

Turn the Tranny by hand with the prop shaft disconnected. Now turn the prop shaft by hand while disconnected. Simply stated, when you connect them there should be no great difference in the feel.

J_I_H I would stop to adjust the screws but I'm going to fine tune it some more by hand now. Good info 64

Jeff it sounds like you have a ACME 540, I use it on my boat and it is my understanding that it is used with the gear reduction tranny's 1.23:1 on mid 80's and up? and it is usually to much prop for 351 and 1:1 tranny. with the cup it has it more like 12.5 X 17 w/o cup

I have found that when I turn the prop and shaft by hand while the coupling is not connected, I get more resistance than when it is connected. The unsupported wieght of the forward end of the shaft and coupling puts the shaft in a bind in the strut bearing. But, the bottom line is, there should be very little resistance to rotation when it is properly aligned (and the strut bearing and shaft packing gland are wet).

BTW, the ACME 540 is 13" dia, 12" pitch, 1" bore, .080 cup.

jameski....your strut bearing should not have that much play. Mine was new when I did the alignment and I don't recall any vertical play in the strut bearing. In fact the drive shaft had little or no resistance when disconnected and would slide down (very fast)all on it's own weight into the rudder if we weren't carefull.

Jim_In_Houston wrote: Hey Stang, yeh. I just got a new EICO 1950ish Vintage AF-4 Single Ended Stereo. I opened the box and found the amp still in factory plastic wrap - never opened. More old cr*p to go with the rest of my old cr*p. But I love it. (If a radio doesn't have tubes in it it just ain't worth havin'.) Thanks for the offer on the Federal props - I think I'm going to look for a new OJ. Send me $315 + $12 for shipping and I'll send you a new ACME 540 in the factory box. same for my boat as I would order from skidim? I will take it! mt91397@yahoo.com

can i get a tube amp for my sub in my boat?

Oh sure...you can USE a tube amp in your boat , as long as you don't plan to be near any water!
Pull it behind a boat??? I guess you would be trolling for J-I-H or myself.