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Gimble growl
kleake
Member Posts: 19 ✭✭
2004 212 with the 5.0L, Alpha 1 Gen 2. All was smooth other than a slight knock due to a bad u-joint in the outdrive especially when turning at slow speeds. Pulled it apart and found one u-joint that was tight and sticking, so I replaced both. The second one felt good, but were dry when I pulled them apart. I replaced bellows and gimble bearing while in there and all else checked out good.
Going back together, I checked the alignment, it was snug, but since it ran butter smooth previously I didn't make any adjustments. First test run I had a VERY pronounced growl as soon as I throttled up to plane out, and figured it was alignment. Pulled the drive and proceeded to adjust the alignment. What I found was the starboard side engine mount was about half way up the adjustment while the port side was completely bottomed out which made it VERY difficult to get the tabs bent out of the way so I could adjust it. Moving the starboard side didn't seem to help, but the port side I moved up about a full inch where I got the best alignment. I'm still getting a growl, but it's MUCH less now and smooths out pretty good when I trim up a little, but if I go too far it comes back slightly.
Alignment tool can easily be pushed in with a single finger or thumb, and two fingers can pull it out easily as well. The spline marks are much more pronounced on the bottom of the alignment tool. Should I have to move the engine mounts that far? And do you suggest moving the front of the engine up even higher to get the alignment correct? It just seems pretty extreme when all was smooth before changing u-joints and gimble bearing.
Going back together, I checked the alignment, it was snug, but since it ran butter smooth previously I didn't make any adjustments. First test run I had a VERY pronounced growl as soon as I throttled up to plane out, and figured it was alignment. Pulled the drive and proceeded to adjust the alignment. What I found was the starboard side engine mount was about half way up the adjustment while the port side was completely bottomed out which made it VERY difficult to get the tabs bent out of the way so I could adjust it. Moving the starboard side didn't seem to help, but the port side I moved up about a full inch where I got the best alignment. I'm still getting a growl, but it's MUCH less now and smooths out pretty good when I trim up a little, but if I go too far it comes back slightly.
Alignment tool can easily be pushed in with a single finger or thumb, and two fingers can pull it out easily as well. The spline marks are much more pronounced on the bottom of the alignment tool. Should I have to move the engine mounts that far? And do you suggest moving the front of the engine up even higher to get the alignment correct? It just seems pretty extreme when all was smooth before changing u-joints and gimble bearing.
2004 212 Captiva Liberty Edition
Comments
Should I raise the front of the engine more and see what happens?
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Mercruiser Service Bulletin No. 2009-13
It goes over the bearings and the differences. The odd thing is it says X/XR/XZ transoms used on the Bravo drives use the red dot bearing with the thinner side. The odd part is that I have the Alpha, but with the updated u-joints and red dot gimble bearing. It does not show that to have been used in the Alpha's, but evidently it was.