95 370 new engine/shaft alignment

A

ATC

New Member
Jul 7, 2008
76
New Jersey
Boat Info
1995 370 Sundancer (sold 2012)
Engines
Twin 7.4
Ok guys, I finally bit the bullet and bought new (reman) 7.4 motors this winter. We've done all the work ourselves (possible that is) to shave the cost.
We dropped the engines/Hurth v-drive trannies in last weekend, and laid the shafts in this weekend.
My greatest concern at this point is alignment. All the mounts on the engines and trannies are new. Our marina initilally said they didn't know how to do alignments, but then came back and said one of the guys did. Their "high" estimate is 5 hours per engine, at $125 hour (or potentially $1250 bucks). I think that is high, but don't know if I want to tackle this myself. Looking for experiences/ideas.
Do the engines themselves need to be leveled/balanced in any way?

Also, anyone know the torque spec for the big shaft nut on the end of the coupler?

Appreciate you assistance.

-Al
 
I PM'd you my phone number, I aligned mine, but it's a lot of typing to describe it, the worst part would probably be getting under the tranny's to get the feeler gauges in there.. mine are straight thru tranny's so it was easy, my engines weren't replaced either..
 
Alignment is critical for longevity of the transmission. Any misalignment will cause premature failure at which point you are looking at way more than the one or two thousand dollars you will pay to have it done correctly. If you are not comfortable with the mechanics at your current marina, find someone that has done this many time before It is not an uncommon task, so you should be able to get an experienced guy to do the job right. Five hours per engine sounds a bit high to me.

Robert
 
Unless you marked all the engine mounts and got reference measurements, somebody is going to pretty much start from scratch on this one. Some mechanics like to use a piano wire strung tight between the center of the coupler and the rudder but centered in the strut bore to get started. With no beginning reference, I'm thinking 5 hours per side may be a bargain.
 
I wonder if it would be better to do it after the boat has been sitting in the water a few days? doesn't the hull deform while in the cradle?
 
the shafts should come thru the transmission output shaft and end up on the backside making them a touch easier to do the Alignment, well, on the nut you probably couldnt hold it tight enough to torque it to spec.. as tight as you can without holding the shaft with a pipewrench, nothing worse than seeing a shiney new shaft with pipwrench marks on it. a good starting point would be 4 to 5 turns up on the ace mounts with the nuts, this will get you close and I'll tell you if you do pay to have it done, get a good guy with the understanding of if you turn this nut this will happen, I do alot of alignments but i constantly have to re-train guys that have done it in the past because i just think they dont get it. the most important thing of alignments of coarse is your face to face under .003, but shoot for .000 with the boat in the water for at least 2 days, but one other thing that i will see is one mount cranked way higher than another, what this does is distribute weight unevenly. you have 4 monting points and you want the weight of the drive train resting evenly on the 4 mounting points and holding true to alignment. I have a good tutorial including pictures and explanation of alignment on another site if you are interested and could direct you if you are interested.
One thing i do find is when i question a owner or mechanic on "how is the alignment?" and the repsonse is "fine" usually that means its close and viewed by the eye. the correct response should be i got it within .003. if he says fine, i will usually get on the boat and check it myself....and this only is f4rom the experience of sending a rebuilt transmission out and getting it back with the ouptut section blown apart, very typical, because alot of do-it-yourselfers or uneducated mechanics will pull the trans moving all the mounts and set it back in without regards to alignment, and if i feel the trans failed to a alignment issue, I wont cover it under warranty.....and it has happened many times in the past, and the letters flow from Dewey Cheatum and Howe. On a boat that size he is in the ballpark on an hourly guy trying to get them aligned, 5 hours is a tad high and the alignment could be acheived with a good understanding of alignment alot quicker. sorry for the babble, but i would attempt the alignment first on your own and maybe get it close and if you lose faith bring on the mechainic and let him fine tune it for you
 
Stuckinforward,
I'd like to see that tutorial if you don't mind. It sounds like you really know your stuff.. (sorry about the hijack).
 
Thanks guys.

I did check that site, and after some laborious searching came up with this link:

http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6037&KW=alignment

Please let me know if this is the one you were referring to.

Frank, perhaps you are right, as it is starting from scratch.

I have heard back and forth in water/out of water; the yard says out. I'm thinking they should get it close out of the water so I can finish dressing everyhting to even GET her in the water, and then fine tune it once she's wet?
 
In or out ??.........I don't know where the Correct Craft stuff is coming from, but on boat as big as a Sea Ray cruiser, you cannot do a final alignment out of the water. To do so is a waste of your time and effort. You do need to install the shafts, props, etc., and get the alignment close and the couplers buttoned up while the hull is blocked out of the water. Then moving it a short distance to a slip is safe, but further than a few hundred feet is a no-no. Park it and let her sit on her own bottom for a minimum of 3 days before attempting a final alignment.
 
that was my initial alignment because i replaced the stringers in the boat and my time was spent taking pictures to show the alignment process to others, not myself, the theory is identical and yes the boat should be in the water for at least 2 days, 48 hours, 1 " shafts or 4" shafts the process is the same, but in the water,
for me on this one its pretty hard to do a complete alignment in the water after the stringer job, i get it close and do the finals in the in the water. on many boats when you pull the trans and put them back in on land and at times you cant pull the shaft up and bolt it unless you do an initial alignment and fininish it in the water
 
BTW, whether its a 100' Palmer or a 19' ft Correct Craft the process is identical, understanding alignment as you can tell went 7 or 8 pages and many questions were answered. obviously if you could let the boat sit for a week in the water it would be more benificial, but sometimes it doesnt always happen that way.
i really dont remember seeing a tutorial as good as this one explaining the alignment process.....i could be wrong
 
Thanks again to both of you.

Frank,

I guess my biggest concern was in fact finishing the engines and then moving the boat without having had any sort of alignment (again all mounts are new and "unadjusted").
I'll talk to the yard and have them give me a service slip for a couple of days prior to their doing the final alignment.

Stuckinforward,

I'll use your tutorial to swag initial alignment before we put her in.

-Al
 
Al,

You have v-drives. You should be able to get the alignment close enough for the shaft to fit thru the coupler without having to deflect it. Once you get that far, is is pretty easy to get the coupler bolts to align. From there I would tighten the bolts, to pull the shaft all the way up, then looses them, separate the coupler enough for the feeler gauge again and align the engine. If you can get that far, you aren't going to h urt anything running the boat over to a slip and to leave it for a few days. As long as she has been blocked up out of the water, the hull is going to relax some, so expect to have to align the engines again.
 
Frank, one thing better than owning a a 370 is when your boss owns it and lets you use it, lol
I just remember when he took delivery, on the starboard gunnel were the fuel valves, identical boat to yours, same power, But the fuel valves were attached to a flimsy piece of fiberglass and held in with four stainless sheet metal screws, it actually bowed out from all the hosing attached, well it would run for a half hour and die...it took a while to find the kink in the hose. i dont know how it slipped out of the factory that way
 
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