another maintenance project

[jim rosenthal]

Pulled the props from Blue Note today (not difficult, with Walters puller, a plug for their fine product) THEN we pulled the shafts out, not easy, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Most of the work done by my friend Dave who knows a great deal more than I do, which ain't difficult.

I think we will replace at least the strut bearings, maybe the ones in the stern tubes as well. I don't know when they were done last. I know how to get the ones out that are in the struts, but how do we remove the ones in the stern tubes? which are full length, btw. I thought they might be half-length, but no.

Props and shafts are going out for reconditioning and checking for true, and we will replace the PSS bellows as well.

I am also thinking about installing a crossover hose from one PSS water supply to the other. Has anyone seen this and is it necessary? She's gotten along fine without it for several years.

 

[saltshaker]

I've seen a crossover line installed but don't see the need for it

 

[oscarvan]

Did you take a hard look at the wear patterns BEFORE you pulled the shafts? This can tell you a lot about alignment......

 

[jim rosenthal]

Yes. Some wear at the bottom, but overall worn pretty evenly. And the shafts turn easily with two fingers on the wheels, dry, so the alignment seems good. Mostly I want to replace them because they are old, and the rubber is delaminating from the shell on one of them. I hope that the shafts are found to be straight; the boat runs smoothly and it's all easy to turn, so with any luck it will all be fine and go back together easily.

 

[oscarvan]

Cool. Sounds like a straight forward project. Once in a while one needs one of those.

 

[rsmith]

Did you take a hard look at the wear patterns BEFORE you pulled the shafts? This can tell you a lot about alignment......

Do what? How exactly do you do that BEFORE you pull the shafts???

 

[jim rosenthal]

Oh- before I pulled the shafts? You can't see much when they are still in there, can you? I couldn't.

 

[Fanfare]

I have the crossover. If you lose an engine (happened to me three times in 50 years) you can freewheel the shaft whle keeping your dripless shaft bearings lubricated. But since my engine failures were all before I installed the dripless seals I can't report if it works.

 

[Avenger]

Now you've created more questions on original vs. what I got. My boat has fiberglass shaft logs. I thought the originals were bronze. Are they, and did they have a bearing?

Re: the crossover tube. I think I'm going to add one. Last season I had one plug up and while the PSS didn't fail, it got pretty hot. Now, if you're trolling on one engine, can that create a problem from back feeding the other engine?

 

[saltshaker]

The cross over would only be needed if one line plugs as Scrod mentioned. There is no need for one if running on one engine. The shaft won't spin fast enough at slow speed to need the water cooling. Check with the manufacturer but most dripless seals don't require cooling water for boats that run slower. I think the number for PSS was 14Kts or less but I can't remember if that's correct. I do know it is much faster than you'd run a twin engine boat on one engine only.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Right, it's about 12-14 knots. I don't run the boat on one engine (at least not intentionally, I have had to do it with the Caterpillars, but not the Cummins engines). I think if we can find a way to route a crossover so it isn't in the way I may do it.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Ordered four cutlass bearings. Scrod, every boat of this kind I've ever seen had fiberglass stern tubes, not bronze. All of them had molded in stern tubes. interestingly, the bearings in the stern tubes are full length; I know some makes of boat use a half bearing in the stern tube, but not the 36C.

Which leads to the question of how the cutlass bearings are held in. They must be glued in with 5200 or something like it. There would be no way to have a setscrew in fiberglass, I don't think. The boatyard is going to R&R the cutlass bearings; they have the tools and it will be a lot easier. Sam's did not have them; I got them ordered through Fawcett's at about $95 each. There may be cheaper ones out there, but I wanted Duramax bearings. I don't want to have to do this over for a while.

So we get a bit of a rest for a while while the hardware goes up to Miller Island, and then once the bearings are in, we'll start stitching it all back together.

 

[Avenger]

On mine they were set screwed through the fiberglass tubes and glopped up with Thiokol or similar sealant.

I assumed they were replaced because they didn't look like they were molded in during the layup. Also my boat had a hard grounding in it's past and a lot of running gear repairs were made. That, plus the drawings in the manual showing bolted in shaft logs is why I always suspect that things like that have been altered.

 

[kjcampos]

how do you know when you have to change your Cutlass Bearings and how often???
we own our boat for 2 years now as of yesterday and have never had them changed nor do we know when the previous owner did them....


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II

 

[bobk]

how do you know when you have to change your Cutlass Bearings and how often???
we own our boat for 2 years now as of yesterday and have never had them changed nor do we know when the previous owner did them....


Joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II

I'm 9+ years into mine and have not changed them but do check for wear each time the boat is pulled. If you are running fairly clean water and have no alignment issues, they are good for thousands of hours. I did have to change the rudder bearings.

Bobk

 

[kjcampos]

I'm 9+ years into mine and have not changed them but do check for wear each time the boat is pulled. If you are running fairly clean water and have no alignment issues, they are good for thousands of hours. I did have to change the rudder bearings.

Bobk

thanks bobk ...we only run at between 1200-1350 RPM's 8 to 10 knts depending on the current we don't have any vibrations of any kind and we were just out of the water for new Garmin SideVu and DownVu transducers and the shafts were solid no movement in them at all props easy to turn...


joe
1981 56' MY
Lake Gloria II

 

[jim rosenthal]

This project began as an overdue replacement of the PSS shaft seal bellows. One leaked at launch last year, because the rotor had slid up the shaft and wasn't tight against the bellows. The PSS shaft seal units are over fifteen years old and on their original bellows, which are supposed to be changed every eight years. Changing them means taking off the props, separating the shaft coupling and removing the back half of it, and sliding the shaft out far enough to remove the sealing rotor. The bellows is then replaced, and the rotor fitted with new O-rings, and reinstalled with new setscrews and LocTite. (and a hose clamp as insurance!)

I (and my friend supervising this project) decided that the shaft bearings ought to be changed. They are not totally gone, but the rubber is separating from the bearing sleeves, and I can't remember when they were last changed (I have had this boat 25 years this spring, in about two months or so) So they fall into the category of "while you're in there"s. The bearings are about $95 each, and having the yard press out the old ones and put the new ones in will add a few hundred to the price, but having everything new under the boat is well worth it. The props and shafts are going up to Miller Island to be cleaned up, checked and reconditioned, and when it's all back together, we'll put it all back in and button it up.

How long do shaft bearings last? Well, up here, eight or ten years at least. Down in Hatteras- a lot less time, as the conditions are much tougher on them.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Incidentally, there are at least two American companies who make these bearings: Duramax, and Trellex-Morse. With new ones so reasonably priced, there is no reason to put anything other than an American product under your boat.

 

[Boatsb]

There's more cost in labor than parts. I use the johnson drama almost all the time.

2 things to be careful of.

1 measure the bearing and the strut. The bearing should not be more than a few thousands larger. Hone the strut if needed as not everyone has a lathe available.

2 cool it in ice water before installing. DO NOT USE DRY ICE. It will damage the bond to the rubber.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Duly noted and thanks. I suspect the bearing that goes in the stern tube is glued in, more or less. We will use 4200 for that. Is it okay to heat the strut- like using a heat gun, for example?