Drive Shaft Alignment

[SurfBeat]

Way back in January 2009, a ember responded to a Thread posted by another Member who was stoked on only using the "special tool" to align the Drive Shaft from the Jet Pump to the PTO.

Although the question I have is relevant to that Post, because the Thread is officially closed, coupled with the fact that I have an additional question that was not covered in that Thread or others, I am starting this Thread.

To provide some relevant history regarding that Thread, the Member who responded to the Thread offered a different opinion regarding only using a "special tool," stating in relevant part that:

"You can use the tool if you want. When I put my engine back in I just made sure all the shims were put back where they were before. Put everything back together, put the drive shaft on, put motor mounts on but leave them kinda loose. Bump the starter and it will align itself, then torque mounts down and your done. Never had a problem with it."

In my case, while troubleshooting a frozen PTO, I first removed the Jet Pump, then moved on to remove the engine to replace a defective crankshaft.

I now have re-installed the engine which before attaching the Exhaust Pipe (EP) to both the Manifold and Muffler was easy to move from side to side, up and down.

My question is, because the engine is now very difficult to move since I attached the EP to the manifold and muffler, should I not have installed the Exhaust Pipe before installing the Jet Pump and sliding the Driveshaft through the Hull to align with the PTO?

If I did the correct procedure as set forth above, then, do I do the best I can to align the driveshaft between the Jet Pump and PTO, then bump it as suggested by the above Member?

I apologize for the long worded Thread, however, I did my best to set forth my question in as short a manner as possible.

 

[Bills86e]

Hulls move and settle. We cannot use Homer Simpsons advise. The TOOL when
affixed to transom, projects a long bar perpendicular of the axis of the transom,
in the same trajectory the engine shimms are added. Not Rocket Science, Hence
the name of tool "alignment tool". The tools position plate assures the jetpump
center. Bill

 

[SurfBeat]

Huh??

Out of curiosity, when returning from court today in LA I stopped at three Sea Doo shops to obtain advice on aligning the PTO>

Each shop employed a Sea Doo trained mechanic and all had at least a dozen training certificates issued by Sea Doo.

NONE of them used the "special " alignment tool and each provided the same advice as Ryan, so Bill, albeit I thank you very much for responding to my post, I am not going to invest $160 for a "special" tool that even authorized Sea Doo shops don't use.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

yea

just bump the starter done it to two ski's now.. seems to work! lol

 

[ski-d00]

well, those are some pretty bad seadoo techs if that was their advice. I just realigned someone's engine who did the same thing and it was way left and high almost a .100". Sure, it will go together, but it's not right and that's how you will chew up the splines and get unwanted vibrations.

to think that a running or rotating engine will magically align itself is just foolish. An engine has major rotational forces and is constantly trying to get itself out of alignment, not put itself in alignment.

using the existing shims is a good idea and many times it will align perfectly but not always and that doesn't guarantee you'll get the left and right alignment correct.

you don't have to buy a tool, you can rent them cheap or free, there may be someone close to you who will let you use theirs, I would.