Parallel outdrives

[atrick]

I have a 29' sundancer with twin 4.3 mercrusier engines and alpha 1 gen II drives. My question is do the drives have to be parallel with each other when straight forward. Mine are off about 5 degrees and asked different people and two different mechanics and get different answers. I would think if they were parallel they would use less fuel and actually run better. Would it be worth the time to adjust them??

 

[FootballFan]

I would probably want to get specs from Sea Ray.

Often times on inboards (I know you are alpha one) the rudder specs are not absolutely parallel. Sometimes there is a slight toe in or toe out.

Mark

 

[Strecker25]

Also, there's usually a little play in them side to side, especially on the one that is the slave on the power steering system. Prop torque will push them to one side or the other under load depending on standard vs CR. Grab the outdrive and move them side to side, how much movement do you have?

 

[atrick]

Got very little side to side play on either drive, was surprised how tight they are previous owners were very good at maintenance with this boat. The drives are toed in to each other.The steering has more play in it than the drives. There's over 600 hours on the drives also.

 

[keokie]

Generally, they should be towed in very slightly, I think a quarter inch from the leading edge to the end of the prop shaft as I recall. There should not be any play that allows the drives to "wiggle" independently of one another. If there is, check the torque on the two nuts on top of the gimbal assembly. If those are torqued properly, and you have wiggle, there is one of two problems... an issue with the internal tie bar connections (unlikely), or bad gimbal rings (likely). The later is an expensive problem. It arises most commonly from not keeping the gimbal ring bolts torqued properly. They should be checked at least annually.

 

[Strecker25]

Generally, they should be towed in very slightly, I think a quarter inch from the leading edge to the end of the prop shaft as I recall. There should not be any play that allows the drives to "wiggle" independently of one another. If there is, check the torque on the two nuts on top of the gimbal assembly. If those are torqued properly, and you have wiggle, there is one of two problems... an issue with the internal tie bar connections (unlikely), or bad gimbal rings (likely). The later is an expensive problem. It arises most commonly from not keeping the gimbal ring bolts torqued properly. They should be checked at least annually.

That torque value is something I could never find in the manual for the alphas. Any idea what it is? In the manual the bolt is labeled b-20 but the torque chart below that diagram doesn't have B listed

 

[keokie]

Yes b-20, and it is 50 or 55 lb/ft. Can't remember for sure.