Some little change you make today may could come back to bite you years later

We have only had our current boat a couple years. When we did the survey a note was made that the belt for the hydraulic pump was out of alignment and should be corrected. The pump was attached to the engine bed stringer and is driven by a belt from the engine.

I looked at it several times over the years and could see no easy way to do it so I just left it be and figured I would be replacing the belt more often than normal. Besides, everything was working OK.

Fast forward to this week and it was time to do something about this. So I tore everything apart so I could get the brackets off and elongate the holes so I could move the pump about 3/8" to aft. While I am doing this I'm thinking how could a marine tech install something this far out of wack? Then a few things came back to me in my memory. Looking back through the previous owners receipts I remember the prop shaft was replaced a few years ago. And I remember that this engine does not have a prop shaft saver installed between the shaft and the transmission like the other engine has. And this shaft saver looks to be about the same thickness as the adjustment I need to align the belt.

So I get out a tape measure and find this engine is about 3/8" to 1/2" further aft then the other. What the hell!! They didn't put the saver back in for whatever reason so they had to move the engine back to meet the shaft. Only problem was the hydraulic pump stayed where it was mounted to the stringer.

This work was done back in 2014 by a company in Anacortes Wa. Took 5 years for this to come back and bite me in the ***

Too bad they took the approach they did. It would drive me nuts to find something like that. Its bad enough trying to fix the things that the PO's PO did without have a professional company doing oddball things.

In looking at pictures of how others have installed some aftermarket pumps or alternators, I've wondered the impacts to the belts and bearings on something mounted fixed to a bulkhead or stringer but running off the engine. I would think that even if the belt is perfectly aligned, its still got to absorb all the vibration from the engine moving on its mounts but being attached to the fixed spot...

I have drivesavers on both of my drivetrains, and have been researching them and engine/shaft alignment as I need to replace all of my engine mounts and will need to touch all of those pieces.

Everything I've read is the place where changes are made regarding the addition or subtraction of drivesavers is NOT the engine location - its the shaft. (I'm guessing that's because most engines are fairly fixed fore and aft?) I don't think my Lehmans have 3/8 or 1/2 of fore-aft movement available in the motor mounts, but I could be wrong since I haven't taken them apart yet.

You would think that if they had a new shaft made to eliminate a drivesaver that would have made it a length to mate up to the transmission output without having to actually move the engine back.

Are you going to eliminate the other shaft saver, add one back, or let it ride?

BTW - yay on you for getting another one of those survey work list issues taken care of. I know our surveyors don't always document everything, or correctly, but for some reason I like to have the goal of reducing or eliminating every finding.

Russell Clifton said:

We have only had our current boat a couple years. When we did the survey a note was made that the belt for the hydraulic pump was out of alignment and should be corrected. The pump was attached to the engine bed stringer and is driven by a belt from the engine.

I looked at it several times over the years and could see no easy way to do it so I just left it be and figured I would be replacing the belt more often than normal. Besides, everything was working OK.

Fast forward to this week and it was time to do something about this. So I tore everything apart so I could get the brackets off and elongate the holes so I could move the pump about 3/8" to aft. While I am doing this I'm thinking how could a marine tech install something this far out of wack? Then a few things came back to me in my memory. Looking back through the previous owners receipts I remember the prop shaft was replaced a few years ago. And I remember that this engine does not have a prop shaft saver installed between the shaft and the transmission like the other engine has. And this shaft saver looks to be about the same thickness as the adjustment I need to align the belt.

So I get out a tape measure and find this engine is about 3/8" to 1/2" further aft then the other. What the hell!! They didn't put the saver back in for whatever reason so they had to move the engine back to meet the shaft. Only problem was the hydraulic pump stayed where it was mounted to the stringer.

This work was done back in 2014 by a company in Anacortes Wa. Took 5 years for this to come back and bite me in the ***

Click to expand...

I've always wondered how many times you can hire someone to work on something before all parts are lost?