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alpha one vibration on turns 1989 5.0 L

S

spiro_1us

Member
have a vibratio 1989 maum 22.6 5.0 230 horse merc when in drive i get vibration turing its worst. changed gimbal bearing last week. u joints seem alright they move easy but no play that i can see. changed oil was a little milkey looking. very fine metal on magnet not much though. changed prop brand new 21 pitch saturday. yesterdayadjusted shift cable was not locking in reverse making a clicking noise both ways when turning prop. now locks both forward and reverse. can pull prop out about a1/8 inch, seems like may have a little side to side play are those after market drives any good there about 1300.00 or is it better to rebuild the one i have can i rebuild it myself
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

Alignment is CRITICAL! Don't bother replacing or servicing the drive until you make sure the engine is aligned properly or you'll be right back where you started.

If the noise and vibration you're getting isn't happening all the time and only happening in the turns, check the coupling between the engine and the driveshaft. They do wear out and will cause noise and vibration in the turn when the driveshaft gets side loaded. When was the last time it was greased?

I wouldn't consider the amount of play in the prop shaft to be cause for rejection unit you measure it. Side to side play on the prop shaft is allowed to be max of 0.003" and runout of >0.007" indicates a bent shaft. End play isn't really discussed in the manual and I'm pretty sure what you're seeing is normal. Mine does the same thing... I'm sure one of the more knowledgable guys here will chime in if I'm gooned up on that.

Rebuilding the lower unit is possible, requires a few, fairly spendy, special tools and some know-how. Measuring the backlash and setting the pre-load is tricky business.
A replacement lower unit might be the way to go if you're not up to the challenge. Assuming this drive is an Aplha-I, SEI http://www.sterndrive.cc/index.htm has them for fairly reasonable ($800) and they seem to get good reports.

Also, you'll need to figure out the source of water intrusion... do a pressure test.
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

If not a out of balance prop or prop shaft I would say........

Problem is most likely the power steering assist assembly, Mine does it and has done it since I bought the boat in '95, mine is a '87 21 ft 350 alpha I

Causes a god awful vibration thru the steering wheel and will make the boat shutter when turning from time to time.......I accepted it as the way it is as it does not affect the use of the boat.....if that is your issue also that is........
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

we did alignment on gimbal bearing when we replaced it and that lined up pretty good with the motor or coupler on the motor if coupler is bad have to pull motor right i just bought the boat from private seller he said it was not in the water yet this year went out three times and checked oil in drive so im not sure if it was bad or not machanic said it should be changed but then he tryed twice to put gimbal bearing in to far in on bottom then to far in on top made a little bur on bottom then i put it in myself went in fine if you watch it before banging the heck out of it he just whaled on it till it got stuck pissed me off. the steering is from to much play or something is that what your saying
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

can the coupler be greased didnt see a fitting there kinda hard to get back there because of the way its designed gonna do cap rotor and plugs next cap had alot of build up and rotor looks burnt a little scraped the build up off the cap but think it should be replaced thats on my agenda i thank you for your input so keep it up guys thanks
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

Reach back there and feel all the way around the coupling. Should find a zerk fitting. Once you find it, you can bar the engine over by hand to get the zerk where you can reach it with a grease gun. Mercruiser has a special grease for the coupling, but any grease is better than no grease.
Yes, gotta pull the engine to replace the coupling (after pulling the drive off). The aft motor mounts are part of the bell housing. Gotta take the bell housing off to get the coupling off the flywheel.
I'd take a look at it and grease it first, and see if that helped any.
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

Ghost you never changed the fluid in the power steering ? Might solve your problem.

To the op of this thread how high you running that drive ? There should be a zerk to grease your coupler. And one for the gimbal bearing.
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

No zerk on the coupler, that did not occur until the mid '90s

The grease is done by greasing the drive shaft...


The "shuttter" in my steering and many others is a bad or faulty valving in the steering assist assembly. NOT the power steering fluid.

just a suggestion as to a possible cause.

Hard to understand someone typing they have a

""VIBRATION""

Could be a piece of crap boat that just shakes, who knows.......
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

You mean " Good vibration " Compared to a " Bad vibration ". HAH.

I think i'm loosing it.

It's like they don't want help.
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

i greased the shaft before putting together after the new gimbal the old gimbal wasnt that bad i thought some of the growl would of went away but thats still there. sure hope i can find the shaking problem could take my brothers boat out 33 fountain that uses to much gas by the way its for sale on boat trader for 30,000
 
Re: alpha one vibration on turns

Is it a growl or a shake??????

You have to be specific..........there is a difference!!

Gimbal bearings make a growling sound/feeling when turning all the way left or right.

Vibrations are caused by many things

SO GET THE DESCRIPTION STRAIGHT!!!
 
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