How to check and adjust propeller shaft alignment

[Fabricator909]

How is a situation like this handled? I replaced the strut bearings I saw the bearings were wearing unevenly (more wear on the top side of the bearing vs the bottom side). Replaced the bearings, went to put the shaft back through the log, and it is about about a half a shaft diameter from even clearing the hole. I’m assuming you can shim the strut down?

[boatwakes]

Wow! It appears the strut may be out of alignment but I'm curious if you made note of how it looked prior to removal. It is extremely rare to find this condition and it may indicate either improper setup at the factory but more likely an improper repair after a strut replacement. The proper way to set this up is remove the strut and its bedding, cleaning all the silicone from the bed and the strut. Then re-hang the strut (likely with new hardware) without sealant to dry-fit the alignment through the shaft packing. It's important to leave the strut bolts loose and let the strut hang from the hull with a gap between the strut base and the hull, slowly tightening the bolts until the shaft alignment through the packing is centered. Once set, measure the gap and fabricate a shim matching the base the of the strut. The shim should be of a suitable material like bronze or stainless and will likely need a machine shop to fabricate it. However, the shaft should have some play where you can manually get it to push through the packing in its current state.

I just got back on the site after a few weeks but can help if you still need it. I'll monitor this thread so keep us updated if you can.