Two years ago, our CD33 with Universal 5424 engine had a broken forward engine mount. This year, the port side mount is broken. The forward mount was replaced by a yard so we didn't learn much about it. When we bought a Universal replacement for the port mount it had a smaller threaded post than the broken one. The replacement has a 1/2 inch post, the failed one and the other two are 5/8 inch. Anyone know which is better? Or why they might be different? Or why they break in the first place?
Thanks for any help or advice.
Al
albertlevesque@cove.com
CD33 Engine Mounts
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Ryan Turner
Re: CD33 Engine Mounts
I responded to Al by e-mail but I thought I'd give a quick summary about my experience here. Just in case anybody cares.
When my forward mount broke repeatedly I decided to replace all three mounts so that all sources of potential failure would be eliminated. Here's what I found.
When I purchased my new mounts I found that they don't provide anything different than standard mounts you can buy in any good marine engine supply house. Westerbeke charges $130.00 or so per mount. The standard ones cost about $40.00. Of course, I didn't find this out until after I had forked over the money for the expensive Westerbeke mounts. Oh well.
There was nothing wrong with the two aft mounts when I finally removed them (at least nothing that I could see). I finally determined that the base the forward mount rests on was not correctly installed when the boat was initially built. The base was tilted forward just enough that the bolt was flexed when everything was tightened down and the motor was aligned with the shaft. That is, the base for the mount and the tang that received the bolt were not parallel. So when I tightened the two nuts that hold the bolt to the engine tang the bottom of the mount didn't sit flat on it's base. There was a small gap under the forward edge of the mount. I finally determined that the base couldn't have been installed correctly in the first place. I just fashioned some shims to place under the forward edge of the mount and tightened it all down. The engine aligned great and now runs very smoothly with it's new mounts.
Ryan Turner
s/v Zenobia
CD 33 hull no. 100
Oriental, Nc
rturnertec@aol.com
When my forward mount broke repeatedly I decided to replace all three mounts so that all sources of potential failure would be eliminated. Here's what I found.
When I purchased my new mounts I found that they don't provide anything different than standard mounts you can buy in any good marine engine supply house. Westerbeke charges $130.00 or so per mount. The standard ones cost about $40.00. Of course, I didn't find this out until after I had forked over the money for the expensive Westerbeke mounts. Oh well.
There was nothing wrong with the two aft mounts when I finally removed them (at least nothing that I could see). I finally determined that the base the forward mount rests on was not correctly installed when the boat was initially built. The base was tilted forward just enough that the bolt was flexed when everything was tightened down and the motor was aligned with the shaft. That is, the base for the mount and the tang that received the bolt were not parallel. So when I tightened the two nuts that hold the bolt to the engine tang the bottom of the mount didn't sit flat on it's base. There was a small gap under the forward edge of the mount. I finally determined that the base couldn't have been installed correctly in the first place. I just fashioned some shims to place under the forward edge of the mount and tightened it all down. The engine aligned great and now runs very smoothly with it's new mounts.
Ryan Turner
s/v Zenobia
CD 33 hull no. 100
Oriental, Nc
rturnertec@aol.com
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Al Levesque
Re: CD33 Engine Mounts
Thank you for the feedback. I got information from the supplier that the stud should be the 5/8 inch size. I will check the alignment and shim as you advise. I will also contact you by e-mail to learn your technique for raising the engine.Ryan Turner wrote:
...There was a small gap under the forward edge of the mount. I finally determined that the base couldn't have been installed correctly in the first place. I just fashioned some shims to place under the forward edge of the mount and tightened it all down. The engine aligned great and now runs very smoothly with it's new mounts.
Thanks again.
Al
albertlevesque@cove.com