Engine/shaft alignment

[just_driving]

I have little over 20 hours on my boat and checked the alignment at the couplers. Horizontally, I have a gap of about .007 at the 9'o clock position and no gap at 3'o clock position or at the 12 and 6'o clock positions. I understand this to mean that I am good vertically but out of spec horizontally by a bit. I got the pry bar out loosened the pinch bolts for the two mounting locations near the transmission. I did not loosen the bolts for the two mounting locations closest to the stern. Little by little I shifted the engine towards the port side thinking it should close the gap, but no matter how much or little I move the engine, the gap will not close. In fact, the gap quckly became larger with bigger movements. All that time, the 3'o clock remains tight with no gaps.

Up to this point, I have not tried loosening the pinch bolts closest to the stern nor the jamb nuts on any of the bolts used to control the height of the engine due to access issues and lack of tools, but also because I cannot understand why shifting just the transmission side of the engine would not close the tiny horizontal gap. Before I go start further dismantling the boat and looking for tools that would allow me to loosen everything on the engine mounts, I would appreciate any thoughts from this community on what is happening here. I am confident that the prop shaft is straight, and I have never hit anything since I've had the boat.

Thanks!

[Brianrzr]

It sounds like your reasoning is correct. It may be worth your while to loosen the stern also. If the entire drive train shifts squarely to port, it makes sense it would close the gap. I had to align mine a month ago, and it was pretty simple when thought about logically.

[just_driving]

Thanks, Brianrzr. So, it turns out I needed to move the stern area of engine to the starboard side to close the gap at the 9'o clock position. I guess I was wrong in my assumption that I can close the gap by shifting the engine to port side at the mounts near the transmission. I am now at .0025 or less all the way around.

Although I chased my tail for a bit with this one, I think it's a fairly simple maintenance item in retrospect. Shifting the engine around sounds daunting, but it's actually pretty easy with a good pry bar and the right set of wrenches and sockets.

[KoolAid]

I have a good video set on this. I will see if we can figure out a way to upload them.