Alignment - Never Easy
Printed From: CorrectCraftFan.com
Category: Repairs and Maintenance
Forum Name: Boat Maintenance
Forum Discription: Discuss maintenance of your Correct Craft
URL: http://www.CorrectCraftFan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20080
Printed Date: November-20-2024 at 8:31am
Topic: Alignment - Never Easy
Posted By: flipflop
Subject: Alignment - Never Easy
Date Posted: November-30-2010 at 1:18pm
Trying to take care of my transmission like I'm suppose to. Thought I would start with an alignment. Bolts came off pretty easy. That's about it...
Read through a few threads that have a lot of good info. Just thought I'd share. |
Replies:
Posted By: Fl Inboards
Date Posted: November-30-2010 at 1:27pm
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So whats the problem that a big hammer and a block of wood wont cure??? ------------- Hobby Boats can be expensive when the hobbyist is limited on their own skill and expertise. 1993 Shamrock "fat" 20. 2008 Nautique 196 5.0 |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: November-30-2010 at 2:09pm
| Going with the putty knife and block of wood method... |
Posted By: gun-driver
Date Posted: November-30-2010 at 8:03pm
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I had to use an old wood chisel to get mine apart, I just kept tapping the chisel as I worked it around the coupler.
I don't know if a putty knife will be stiff enough. Thats also a good indication that the alignment hasn't been done in a long, long time. |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-01-2010 at 10:03pm
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Wood chisel, putty knife, and PB blaster did the job. I can now slide my putty knife all the way around.
Couple questions. (Sorry about the vocabulary.) 1. Should the two halves of the (coupler?) spin freely with the bolts take out? Right now they do not. 2. The prop shaft is pretty stiff to turn. Is it normal to have some resistance? 3. A .01 feeler gauge will slide all the way around without interference. A .02 will not. I have to go back and read some more threads, but what is my next step? |
Posted By: SNobsessed
Date Posted: December-01-2010 at 11:56pm
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Flip - Here are some instructions on alignment:
http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6037&KW=alignment&PID=58701&title=span-classhighlightalignment-span#58701 - Eric's alignment You are missing the point if the feeler gage goes all the way around. The couplers should touch at some position around the circumference (unless they are cupped or rusted up in the pilot area). You may want to clean off the faces & pilot surfaces with some fine grit emery cloth. Once they are bottomed tight together (by hand pressure only) then any opposite 'gap' is what you are trying to measure. Perfect alignment is no gap all the way around. The transmission coupler should spin with hand force, but it won't be totally free, due to internal resistance. The prop shaft should turn easily. If it does not you might have a bent strut or bad strut bushings. Try picking up on the prop shaft & moving around to see if it is 'happy' (looser) in any particular position. If it wants to be on one side of the 'log' (opening thru hull) then you may have a bent strut. You have to think about concentricity of the shafts & parallelism (sp) of the coupler faces in order to know which way to adjust the motor. This is definitely one of the tasks an inboard owner needs to know how to do themselves. Good luck - we will be here for your next question. ------------- “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Ben Franklin |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 9:33am
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the only thing I can add would be some pb at the strut bearing to make the shaft spin freely, and to pilot the shaft and put a bolt in finger tight to do the alignment check ------------- "the things you own will start to own you" |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 3:13pm
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pbrainard...from another post.
"They can really rust together especially at the pilot counter bore between them (a male/female step to maintain the coupling halves concentricity). Go back at it with the putty knife and a mallet or a hammer and block of wood. Putty knife, wack, rotate, putty knife, wack. it should break loose." Looks like I have some more work to do. Thanks for the advice. I will use the information wisely. Will report back. |
Posted By: watrski
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 3:27pm
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Buy some Kroil: http://www.kanolabs.com/
Spray it on the shaft. Drop the front of the motor. Using a .003" feeler gauge is pointless once you have buggered up the mating surface on the coupler. |
Posted By: Fl Inboards
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 5:12pm
Yep, hence my comment big hammer and a block of wood. Prying the face of both the output side and the shaft couplers with a screw driver or puddy knife is never good but! Oh-well! Live and learn. Just had one this morning pulled the bolts from the coupler, wd-40 the shaft into the strut, PB blast the coupler after the bolts were removed, Go have a sitdown on the computer (5 min), smack shoulder of the coupler with a block of wood and a big hammer and ta-da!!! it slipped right apart. I think it is called finesse!!! ------------- Hobby Boats can be expensive when the hobbyist is limited on their own skill and expertise. 1993 Shamrock "fat" 20. 2008 Nautique 196 5.0 |
watrski wrote:Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 5:27pm
|
So help me understand here. I screwed up because now I have a .01 - .02 gap in the mating surfaces?
So where do I spray the Kroil and where do I hit the coupler? What parts should separate? I tried looking at parts on skidim and can't figure out how the coupler, shaft, and transmission are constructed. Does the prop shaft extend through the coupler into the transmission side? When I slide the putty knife down I hit the prop shaft? and that is what is rusted together keeping the two halves from spinning freely. |
Posted By: TRBenj
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 5:43pm
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The 2 couplers will come apart from each other. It sounds like you have not yet separated them completely. Once free, the prop shaft and coupler will pull away from the transmission. The shaft should not extend past the coupler- it should be flush.
You cannot determine alignment until the couplings are separated. Once they are apart and cleaned up (free of rust so they do not stick together) you bring them back together (not bolted) and see how well they mate. The faces will touch at one point- the goal is that they touch perfectly even all the way around (perfect alignment). So long as the biggest gap between them is no larger than .003" when they are touching in another place, then that is considered to be acceptable. Like Pete said, you start at the strut and work your way forward. If your strut is bent, then your shaft may not be coming through the center of the shaft log. A *little* off center is ok, but you dont want it so close to one edge that it rubs. Remove the hose and check to see where it comes through before proceeding with the alignment. ------------- |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 5:49pm
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James,
Since you have the .01 to .02 between the coupling halves (one on the trans and one on the prop shaft) you have them apart. Slide the prop shaft forward again to make sure the pilot bore inside the coupling is engaged. It's a male/female step machined into the faces of the halves. Then go at it with the feeler gauge. Keep in mind that the actual thinkness of the feeler gauge does not come to play. It's the difference side to side and top to bottom that you want to get down below the .003". ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 5:51pm
| Thanks TRBenj & Pete - Will do. Going to work on it this weekend. |
Posted By: 8122pbrainard
Date Posted: December-02-2010 at 6:11pm
|
James.
When you go back at it, take a good single cut flat file with you. Pull the prop shaft back enough so you can get the the mating faces and lightly go around the faces with the file. Any high spots that you may have created with the putty knife will show up. The file will remove them. ------------- /diaries/details.asp?ID=1622" rel="nofollow - 54 Atom /diaries/details.asp?ID=2179" rel="nofollow - 77 Tique 64 X55 Dunphy Keep it original, Pete < |
Posted By: BuffaloBFN
Date Posted: December-03-2010 at 9:56am
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Sounds to me like the halves still need to be pulled apart and cleaned. Doesn't he also want to see where the shaft wants to be before the pilot is engaged? ------------- http://correctcraftfan.com/diaries/details.asp?ID=2331&sort=&pagenum=12&yrstart=1986&yrend=1990" rel="nofollow - 1988 BFN-sold "It's a Livin' Thing...What a Terrible Thing to Lose" ELO |
Posted By: eric lavine
Date Posted: December-03-2010 at 10:08am
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try explaining it on the phone 50 or so times a year lol ------------- "the things you own will start to own you" |
Posted By: Fl Inboards
Date Posted: December-03-2010 at 10:58am
Eric, they can pay us now or pay us later! I have a number of customers that have tried to work on their own boats and have found that in the short run it is not worth the aggravation and extra cost as we repair their work. I tell a lot of these guy's I wont practice medicine or law or whatever if they dont work on boats!  ------------- Hobby Boats can be expensive when the hobbyist is limited on their own skill and expertise. 1993 Shamrock "fat" 20. 2008 Nautique 196 5.0 |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-06-2010 at 2:19pm
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This was a good project. By the time I was finsihed I had a much better idea of why and how alignment is important.
I started off with a .011 gap at the top and a .008 gap on the left. I was able to get it down to .0015 at the bottom and .0015 to the left. I'm going to check it on the water before moving on. I know its not perfect... Fluid change next. Thanks for the help. 
|
Posted By: Fl Inboards
Date Posted: December-06-2010 at 2:30pm
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Looks good!
Make sure you get saftey wire on those set bolts before it goes to the lake. ------------- Hobby Boats can be expensive when the hobbyist is limited on their own skill and expertise. 1993 Shamrock "fat" 20. 2008 Nautique 196 5.0 |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-06-2010 at 5:05pm
|
Thanks, will do that. I just saw another post with the wire attached. Mine never had one.
Fl Inboard: I'm basically on the same parallel as you. At what point do you worry about the engine block freezing? Can it handle one or two nights below freezing? Would running the engine up to temp in the afternoon be helpful? |
Posted By: Fl Inboards
Date Posted: December-06-2010 at 5:46pm
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Just put a 20-30 watt trouble light under the oil pan that will generate enough heat to keep the block temps high enough and give some piece of mind. I am currently running around the yard draining motor blocks and manifolds just because these are customer boats in my care and we may dip below 32* for more than a couple of hours early in the morning and I do not have enough trouple lights to go around. ------------- Hobby Boats can be expensive when the hobbyist is limited on their own skill and expertise. 1993 Shamrock "fat" 20. 2008 Nautique 196 5.0 |
Posted By: flipflop
Date Posted: December-06-2010 at 6:12pm
| Thanks. Just did a search for 'trouple light'. Much better info than searching for 'freeze'. Good luck with the rest of them. |