Walter V drive problem

[SVTheEdge]

I have a V drive with water intrusion (who knows how long)that I just sent to Walter machine company. I am a new Pearson owner so I'm not familiar with the set up.i have a customized jack shaft which I'm just finding this out. Apparently one of the previous owners felt the need to put a fixed shaft from the transmission to the v drive. It has a pillar bearing right in front of the v drive. It does not have a U joint coming out of the transmission. The Walter company said they will not warranty the v drive rebuild the way it is set up. Right now it's just a direct straight shot back to the v drive. I do not know if this had anything to do with the water intrusion. I hate to install a new v drive with the shafts not being correctly aligned. I have seen some customizing on the site and I'm not sure if I should just put it back the way I found it. How bad does it really need to have a U-joint. I post some pictures later tonight. Thank you for any help on this matter.
Pate

[Sailing_Photog]

i don't really have an answer for you, but when I replaced my V drive, alignment was very challenging even with a U-joint - much more so than previous motor-only alignments on other boats.  I would get the telescoping U-joint shaft back in there, I think.

[S/V AMITY]

   Two separate issues. Water intrusion is not related to the shaft set-up you have. It is simply a leak in the oil cooler allowing water into the drive.

   Problem with a non-u-jointed shaft from the transmission is that unless the shaft is perfectly aligned with the v-drive the drive input bearings will be stressed and fail.  A shaft u-joint takes up any minor mis-alignment.  Search around here and you'll find several posts regarding shafts, u-joints, alignment requirements and other tid-bits of nice to know info.

Best,  Jim