Shaft Removal
Tim et al,
What was your experience of
pressing the half coupling back onto the shaft like? I found it quite
disconcerting to have to pound hard with a hammer and a block of wood on the
end of the shaft while my buddy checked progress inside. I put a block of wood
between the two half couplings to try to reduce the impact on the transmission.
Didn't cause any damage (this was 6 years ago) but I was hoping there was a
better way to do it next time. Did you use soap as a coupling/shaft lubricant
or find something more effective?
Cheers,
JohnL
"Sabbatical2"
Todd Rodzen
wrote:
ok guys, I have read on here a
couple times that the 320 doesn't require the rudder to be dropped to pull the
shaft. We'll mine hull # 820 does! I saw it with my own eyes today. There is no
way to get it out without moving something out of the way (rudder, strut, or
engine.) I'm assuming rudder is going to be easiest.
Anybody
willing to disagree?
Anybody change a cutless bearing on a
I Know the PSS (dripless
seal) should be 1" shaft / 1 1/2" log, has Everyone used the Standard
version? The west marine catalog says the high speed version is required for
over 12mph, my repair guy had told me he would use the one with a water intake (the
high speed version). But then again I'm realizing not much that he has told me
has been accurate.
Todd
I guess it all depends on
what you want to do. You do NOT have to
pull the rudder to install the dripless shaft seal. The shaft only needs to slide
back maybe 6-8"... and there's plenty of room for that.
If you had to take the shaft
clean off, then I suppose you would need to drop the
rudder.
The PSS Dripless Shaft Seal
for the 320 requires a 1" shaft diameter, 1-1/2" log size (the real
log size is 1-5/8" but PYI doesn't make a seal in 1/8" inch sizes --
only 1/4" sizes. But it stretches
quite easily and is no problem. Use the
low-speed version, it's also no problem.
I just installed my dripless
shaft seal (a buddy and I did it ourselves... it's really not very difficult)
two weeks ago, and the boat went into the water last week. Once I burped the seal (lots of spray will
come in when you do this), I got narry a drop. I took her for a 10 minute spin just to help
break in the seal and re-inspected it several times.
Odd things you'll need, but
might not think to bring:
400-600 grit sandpaper (you
need to polish the shaft before sliding the stainless collar down to the shaft
seal - IMPORTANT: After polishing the
shaft, you need to intentionally "dull" the keyway. After polishing mine it was razor shart and would have slices the o-rings on the inside of
the stainless collar -- that would be bad.)
Ordinary dish-soap - This is
to lubricate the o-rings so they'll slide easily down the shaft. DO NOT USE A PETROLIUM-BASED LUBE. This will deteriorate your o-rings (not
immediately, but eventually they will), and that would be very bad. Sort of defeats the whole point of a "dripless system".
A torque
wrench. PYI wants you to tighten the set screws on
the stainless collar to 6 ft/lbs of torque.
I didn't have a torque wrench. I have no idea how I would have done this
even with a torque wrench. They give you a small allen wrench - all the torque wrenches I've ever seen
have a socket adaptor - and are not adapted for allen
wrenches.
Longer shaft-coupling
bolts. Remove one bolt from the shaft
coupling (the plate that bolts the shaft to the transmission), run to a
hardware store, and pick up 4 of the same size - except at least double the length.
You'll have to "press" the shaft out of the coupling plate but putting
a space between the shaft & transmission and tightening the bolts. The standard bolts (grade 8 if I remember)
are too short for this. The longer bolts
are just temporary.
Regards
Tim
Shaft Repair
In my experience, you're
really better off getting a new prop shaft. You really can't straighten a shaft
once it's bent.
The problem is that once it
has the slightest bend, you'll never be able to perfectly "unbend" it
at the precise points. As a result, the
shaft will create a horrible vibration at high speed.
I bent a shaft on a previous
boat (well, someone who borrowed the boat did it.). It also bent the strut, tore one blade off
the 3-blade prop, and damaged the remaing blades.
Amazingly, the dealer told
me that they would repair the bronze strut and propeller (I couldn't *believe*
they were gonna repair the propeller, but I must
admit, it looked like new when they were done), but the stainless steel shaft
had to be replaced. Bronze is easily formed
and bent (which is why it's preferred as prop material. If a prop hits an object, *something* between
the point of impact on the prop and the engine must give. You really want that weak point to be the
prop instead of the engine or transmission parts. Thus bronze props will fold over easily, lose
a blade, but protect the engine. And bronze is easily repaired.
UNLESS...
it's a shaft. At high speeds, the shaft really must be *perfectly*
straight, or you'll get vibrations.
It'll be very annoying, and can cause premature failure of bearings,
etc. You really can't unbend it
*perfectly* enough.
Regards
Tim
Paul, beware of machine
shops. Most of them don't have the equipment to straighten shafts after they
are machined. This is were
I had mine made, all they do is make prop shafts.
Marine Machining & Mfg
33475 Giftos
dr
586-791-8800 Fax 586-791-8803
Ken Bousum
STINKIN GRINGO' #711