Lifting the engine

[Submarinedan]

Hi all!

I have been trying to find advice on lifting my inboard engine.... I need to lift it, remove the fuel tank underneath and clean and repaint the bilge, then put the whole thing back.

I am pretty happy with disconnecting most of it and the mechanics of lifting, but have never looked at the shaft coupling as something I would usually touch. Do I need to secure it in any way to stop it sliding out of the hole at the stern? And presumably since the same engine is going back into the same mounts, it should not need any work on alignment etc??

The work is being done on the mooring so would rather not make a lot more work for myself! Can someone give me any advice for the disconnecting of the engine from the shaft? It is a Mitsubishi s4e engine so a marinised version of a forklift unit

Thanks in advance!

Dan

[Reefmagnet]

If clearance allows, disconnect it at the flexible coupling, leaving the shaft coupling attached to the shaft. The shaft coupling remaining attached will remove any chance of the shaft deep sixing.


You will need to realign your engine on re-install simply because it probably is already out of alignment as the engine mounts have settled anyway, before any of the usual bumps that will occur while shifting the engine.


A small lever block is very handy for controlling engine tilt while lifting, too.

[tkeithlu]

If the mounts are old, consider replacing them while you have the engine off them.

Realigning the engine is not a scary as some literature suggests. Think through how raising or lowering each of the four points, or shifting the engine back, forth, or to the side, will influence the fit between the two plates. Determine what is wrong with the alignment (It's too high and tighter at the bottom than the top), shift it slightly, and look again. Just keep the geometry in your mind.

The tiny misalignments that create problems (vibration) in a hard-mounted engine get taken up by the soft engine mounts and the soft connector between the tranny and the shaft.

[Submarinedan]

Thanks guys.



Ill be getting down to review the lift before I start dismantling everything, I just wanted to make sure there were going to be no surprises for me ( Thinking along the lines of something uncoiling or a spring ejecting. I will look at replacing the mounts since the engine is off and hopefully the realignment will be fairly straightforward!


Thanks for your insight!


Dan