Shaft alignment

[Raider Ronnie]

How often is everyone doing a shaft alignment ? (yearly)
Also, what are the signs that's it's time to do one ?
It's been 2 or 3 years since we did one on my boat.
Other than some slight vibration through the deck one thing that really was different / improved the last time we lined up the engine to the shaft coupler was how quiet the boat was after.
Seems my boat is pretty loud now and I'm thinking it's time to line it up.
Thoughts , suggestions , input ?
Thanks

 

[CEShawn]

Its one of those fundamental if you are thinking about it do it. If its done correctly its not going to hurt anything. I do mine when I change my shaft bushings, 3 years. Of course if I hit something, wrap something up etc, I change this.

I can tell you to do shaft bushings before hand. I give them about three years but I know some people say to do them yearly, before I knew better I dont even know when I changed them. I have never met anyone to do them yearly but have a funny feeling some of the tweakers in this world are and wonder if they are stick fisherman.

 

[jerseysportfisher]

How often is everyone doing a shaft alignment ? (yearly)
Also, what are the signs that's it's time to do one ?
It's been 2 or 3 years since we did one on my boat.
Other than some slight vibration through the deck one thing that really was different / improved the last time we lined up the engine to the shaft coupler was how quiet the boat was after.
Seems my boat is pretty loud now and I'm thinking it's time to line it up.
Thoughts , suggestions , input ?
Thanks

Ronnie,

Shaft misalignment alone will not cause vibration. Thats a balance problem or and bent shaft or loose mounts. However, shaft misalignment will cause you to chew through a cutlass bearing in no time, if thats the case, your get metal to metal, shaft against the bronze insert. That will make a horendous noise.

 

[mudhake]

ronnie call me

 

[Pedlyr]

Many times the mounts can loosen up or even sag or tear if they have any rubber. Shims can move around too if you have any.

On thing that is often overlooked is the coupler face. They can take some abuse, especially without a Drivesaver.

Last week we just had a gear failure on a K19. Cracked the ring gear. I couldn't bolt up the new gear to the engine because the bellhousing was off so much.

I had to realign everything since it was off quite a bit. Probably why the gear failed. It amazes me how some don't take this process too seriously.