pcatterall
Well-Known Member
The gearbox has a big 8 bush plate and the bushes have to fit into holes in the toothed ring gear plate.
Lining the holes up with the bushes is proving difficult ( to say the least!)
I have been lining up the bushes by eye and feel ( +/- 5mm ?) but this is an aproximation at best. As the casing gets within 2" of the rear of the engine all sight of the bushes is lost and as the TMP is hydraulic its plate is not held in any way nor can it be turned.
I have tried pushing the box toward the engine while turning the engine with a spanner in the hope that I could feel it locate but of course any pressure of the bush plate against the toothed engine plate will just lock the bush against the toothed plate and they will spin together in their ( non Aligned ) position.
TMP recommend cutting a 2" access hole in the bell housing as an aid to removing the box when the bushes get rusted in ( using wd 40 spray), I will look at this idea to see if it would help in the lining up process but meanwhile I will, as always, value your tips and advice!!
I note that there is a drain hole in the base of the bell housing, I recall that on a previous boat the bell housing was near the bottom of the bilges, at some time water had got in and then was thrown up to the starter motor which then failed. A new starter motor was fitted and failed in the same way. After a third failure we realised that water ingress was the fault, we plugged the hole after drying out the bell housing via the starter motor hole. Perhaps a drain plug in the bell housing and a proper inspection cover on the top of it would be a useful mod to do now before fitting the engine??
Thanks as always!!
Lining the holes up with the bushes is proving difficult ( to say the least!)
I have been lining up the bushes by eye and feel ( +/- 5mm ?) but this is an aproximation at best. As the casing gets within 2" of the rear of the engine all sight of the bushes is lost and as the TMP is hydraulic its plate is not held in any way nor can it be turned.
I have tried pushing the box toward the engine while turning the engine with a spanner in the hope that I could feel it locate but of course any pressure of the bush plate against the toothed engine plate will just lock the bush against the toothed plate and they will spin together in their ( non Aligned ) position.
TMP recommend cutting a 2" access hole in the bell housing as an aid to removing the box when the bushes get rusted in ( using wd 40 spray), I will look at this idea to see if it would help in the lining up process but meanwhile I will, as always, value your tips and advice!!
I note that there is a drain hole in the base of the bell housing, I recall that on a previous boat the bell housing was near the bottom of the bilges, at some time water had got in and then was thrown up to the starter motor which then failed. A new starter motor was fitted and failed in the same way. After a third failure we realised that water ingress was the fault, we plugged the hole after drying out the bell housing via the starter motor hole. Perhaps a drain plug in the bell housing and a proper inspection cover on the top of it would be a useful mod to do now before fitting the engine??
Thanks as always!!
