Engine Alignment

[John Gardner]

During the winter with the boat out of the water, I replaced the engine mounts with Vetus K7s.  The Vetus mounts have very short slots, so to get alignment of the engine I had to file the slots longer.  In fact I had to widen the slots (in one direction) until there was only 1/16 inch metal left holding the base of the mount together at one end of the slot, and even then alignment was marginal.  Somewhat belatedly I have eventually got around to doing the final alignment with the boat in the water.

Now with the front of the engine off as far as the mounts will go in one direction (starboard), and the back of the engine as far as it will go in the other, I still can't quite align the engine.

It seems to me the only way I'm going to get alignment is either to pull the engine, fill the holes in the bearers with epoxy and re-drill, or file the mounts so the last bit of metal is all gone from one end of the slots, which of course will weaken the bases of the mounts.  The latter seems to be the lesser of two evils, unless anyone has any better ideas.......?

[Ted Pounds]

John,

You might consider spending another $350 and getting a Vetus Bulflex flexable drive coupling.  It will take up to 2 degrees of mis-alignment.  So no more need to do alignments.  That's what I did and I'm very happy with it.  No more drive train vibration at all.  Just a thought...

Ted

[kss1220]

John:

I recently did the same project.  If you do not want to spend the $350.00 you do need to pull the engine.  I pulled the engine and filled the holes with epoxy.  Replaced the engine and aligned. Once aligned I then marked the new hole location and then pulled the engine again to drill the new holes.  It is a job to say the least.  An angle drill saves pulling the engine out all the way.  I was able to leave my throttle and transmission cables attached.  It took me two days to do the job by time you disconnect everything, cure the epoxy, and reconnect.  You will love the mounts.  I have almost zero vibration.  

Kelly

[John Gardner]

Thank you for your suggestions.  I'm sort of leaning towards finding that $350.  What's involved in replacement?  Is it just remove/replace, or is there any cutting or similar complication?

[Ted Pounds]

JOhn,

It's pretty much remove and replace.  I had some comlication caused by the set-screw dimples in my old shaft.  They made it hard to get the old coupler off.  The old two-pound hammer wouldn't work so I had to use a small gear-puller which was a bear to fit between the coupler and transmission.  Then I failed to smooth the dimples before inserting the shaft into the new coupling.  It got stuck halfway  and wouldn't go out or in.  Fortunately the bulflex is longer than the original coupling.  I was able to cut off the stuck part, remove the coupling and pound out the piece.  There was plenty of shaft left over to be gripped by the new coupling.  You could gaurantee avoiding those complications if you bought a new stainless shaft as Ron Hill suggests.  If you go that route though you'll have to replace the cutless bearing also and the boat will have to be hauled.  You can do just the coupling in the water.  Cutting the shaft, by the way, was an easy job with a hacksaw.

Ted

[Jim Moore]

I read with interest the post about the Vetus Flex Coupling.  I looked the Vetus coupling up at the go2marine.com web site.  Is this the same coupling that they refer to as the Bullflex flex coupling?  If it is, then they offer 3 different types that are available for the one inch prop shaft. Which is the preferred type for this particular instal?  Also, if this is not the coupling you spoke of, where can I get more info on this? Thanks for any info you can provide.

[Ted Pounds]

I just got back from my boat and after looking behind the engine I don't think coupling replacement is an in the water job.  There's not enough shaft between the stuffing box and the coupling to move it easily.  It's easy enough if you haul the boat though.  

Ted