Are you using the 2 alignment pins in the midshaft housing and the 2 on the top of the wear ring housing? If not I would highly recomend you do, for a few reasons.
1. On my 96 RN, I found that when using all 4 pins the left to right positioning of the shaft was almost perfect and I only had to shim the back of the pump evenly on both sides. This was with the cold fusion alignment tool, which also has holes for the pins.
2. If you ever have to pull the pump off to work on it and aren't using the pins it's very unlikely that it will still be aligned when you put it back on. The first time I checked the alignment on my ski I found the pins were missing and I tried to align it without the pins and I found that with all 4 pump bolts in and almost snug I was still able to move the pump left to right, so much that I couldn't slide the coupler into the alignment tool. The bolt holes alone just are not precise enough to repeatedly locate the pump.
3. If you dont use the pins in both the Cold fusion tool and your midshaft housing when you pull the tool off and go to put your midshaft housing back in you have no way of knowing if your midshaft housing is going to be in the exact same position where the tool was located. This is again because the clearance holes for the bolts are not accurate enough to repeatedly locate the housing and tool in the same position. If you want to see what I'm talking about, put the tool in without the pins and tighten the bolts just enough so you can still move the plate around, then try and slide the coupler onto your driveshaft as you move the plate around in the bolt holes. It probably ain't gna light up.[/QUOTEYes I am using both the pins in the wear ring housing and the pin in the midshaft housing. Unfortunately haven’t bought the tool yet, but I am most likely going to get the cold fusion. Basically what I did was put the front two bolts in the pump and first tightened them down. I then looked at my holes to see if I needed to align anything in the back as far as bolts lining up, and made sure my pump was tight to the shoe in the front, and it is. I then just slapped the two rear bolts in the pump to see where I was at, and my driveshaft was low and to the left a bit. I used a thicker washer on the left side of the rear of the pump that took some effort getting in, and a thinner washer on the right side. Tightened everything back up and I’m at where I’m at now, midshaft slides on and all 3 bolts thread in to their holes without having to force anything either which way. I honestly am thinking it’s good or damn close to good.
