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Cobra sterndrive reinstall difficult

S

sean_f

New member
"I have just completed some ba

"I have just completed some basic sterndrive maintenence on my 1989 OMC Cobra (5.0 Ford). I can't seem to get the sterndrive input shaft to align with the engine spline hole during reinstallation.

It seems that after the shaft passes through the gimbal bearing, the shaft "sags" and won't go into the hole in the engine. Since the double cardan joint has already made contact with the u-joint bellows by this point, I can't lift it up to aid alignment.

If anyone has any hints on this, I would greatly appreciate it!"
 
have an assistant in the boat

have an assistant in the boat reach in behind the block and help it in the coupler. I have had to do this on too many OMC's.
 
"I found that if you first loa

"I found that if you first load the u_joints with grease they will stiffen a little. Then i used a roller floor jack to hold the weight if the drive unit and then slowly work it in.
The unit must be in forward gear or the shift lever wont fit on, Also i leave the prop on so i can have my helper turn the shaft to align the gear to the engine drive hub. Thats what worked for me, but i did find that it was heavy work. I also found that by the time i get the drive on i tore the gasket and had to pull the unit off again."
 
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