The seats are the best that Hydrodyne ever installed in my opinion. The trailer is an original Hydrodyne trailer, and is excellent. The under tray is designed so that when you go into reverse on the trailer, water will be pushed up onto the under tray and help float the boat off the trailer. I have a late model Morse inboard style throttle and shifter that I converted to a trim in the handle. You can have it and the cables for the price of the shipping if you are interested. It has a neutral start switch which the original did not have. Or, I can tell you how to modify yours. I converted mine to an outboard. jim
Need to get her in the water and see how it runs, replacing the bellows first. Def interested in the throttle.
I will set the throttle aside for you. Let me know by PM message. The drive shaft bellows is important, a leak can sink the boat. It can be a pain to replace. You should do a shaft alignment too. jim
Hi Greg: The gimbal removal requires a special extraction tool to backoff the pivot pins for alpha-one outdrives. If you have the same unit, its a six or eight point star like a torex head but specific to the size of the Mercruiser pins and there are some real cheap knock-off tools out there on eBay so beware. If older (Mercruiser one), than large Alan key pivot bolts. After you get the outdrive off and remove the gimbal housing for the bellows and bearing change out, Jim is suggesting that as long as you have the gimbal housing off, get the new gimbal bearing aligned to prevent unnessary vibrations which lead to premature failure of the new bearing. You should also look at the play in the U-joint of the outdrive and see if replacement is needed. I haven't replaced a marine u-joint in the three i/o's that I owned but you should check yours while apart all the same. The alignment requires special tools and a bit more wrench turning than I have time for so I had my bearing and gimbal reinstalled by a mercruiser tech for the 20 i/o. I have seen some videos on Youtube that run through the alignment process for mercruiser, and can be done by a DIY if you care to spend the $$ to have the tool and your time away from the water when things do not go as planned. I had my transom and engine stringers replaced two seasons ago and have the same issue after this year (only saw water twice since replaced so should be ok for this summer). 80 degrees on Saturday so it is time to dunk the 20!! Kevin-
Shaft alignment is easy. The tool consists of a dummy shaft. An old shaft could be used. Adjust the front engine mounts up or down until the tool slides in easily. My manual recommended it every year, but I don't think that is necessary. If the drives comes off, (or goes on) easily with no binding, the alignment is probably god. If the shaft is badly out of alignment, it will destroy the rubber coupling on the flywheel. jim
I reviewed some of those youtube videos and I remember that I had mine completely apart, but I did not need to replace the gimble bearing because I never let the bellows get to the point where they leaked. I did make some modifications to an alpha to make it steer easier, and that required machining. I borrowed that alignment tool from a mercruiser dealer. A dealer would probably give you an old shaft. jim
My Dyne had one of these on it,, way cool: http://www.yachtboatparts.com/exhau...r-alpha-and-bravo-replaces-78458a1-6657-p.asp And it is much easier to install. jim
Check this out: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alpha-Bravo...ruiser-Volvo-Heartland-Products-/311144531809 jim
Greg/Jim: My situation was a bit more complex (new transom, motor stringers, and transom plate) so I chose to let the mercruiser certified tech deal with the issues regarding the first pass on alignment to get things to spec. Jim is correct if you only need to align the bearing, get an appropriate tool, and adjust the motor mounts as needed. KTB-
