cd-28 stuffing box

[wayne grenier]

I have an unusual problem-it appears someone installed one of those hard nylon "isolators" between my gearbox and prop flange.unfortunatley because it is about 1" thick I no longer have room to back my stuufing box packing nut up the shaft far enough to change the packing! I can unbolt the isolator from the prop flange but do not have clearance to get the gearbox bolts out-and forget trying to get the prop shaft out of the coupling-its a rusted mess-so without pulling the motor I am apparently up the creek! anyway-assuming I make it through the season I intend to pull the motor in the fall to replace the fule tanks and have the gearbox rebuilt-so I will attend to it then-has anyone else had this problem? My stuffing box has never been a problemand I don't care if it leaks a little but my curreent arrangment seems a little silly!l



grenier@ma.ultranet.com

[Russ Campbell]

I have an unusual problem-it appears someone installed one of those hard nylon "isolators" between my gearbox and prop flange.unfortunatley because it is about 1" thick I no longer have room to back my stuufing box packing nut up the shaft far enough to change the packing! I can unbolt the isolator from the prop flange but do not have clearance to get the gearbox bolts out-and forget trying to get the prop shaft out of the coupling-its a rusted mess-so without pulling the motor I am apparently up the creek! anyway-assuming I make it through the season I intend to pull the motor in the fall to replace the fule tanks and have the gearbox rebuilt-so I will attend to it then-has anyone else had this problem? My stuffing box has never been a problemand I don't care if it leaks a little but my curreent arrangment seems a little silly!l

Wayne, I have a drivesaver installed on my CD 28 and while I did have problems getting the stuffing box out it was just a
question of taking the drivesaver out. The bolts that go through the drivesaver should just be bolts that go through the
drivesaver and the driveplate on the back of your motor. One thing I had to do was pull the prop shaft out after disconnecting
the drivesaver to gain the room to remove the bolts. Just prop the rudder out of the way and it should just pull out. Then you can take the
isolator(drivesaver ) out and then repack the stuffing box.
I would recommend that you replace your stuffing box with a dripless one. That way you'll never have to repack again. I did
this last year and am very happy with mine. Hope this answers some of your questions.
Russ



camroll@together.net

[denny]

Take it easy! The coupling between your transmission and prop shaft flanges is there for a reason and is standard issue. You only need to move you packing gland nut about 2" up the shaft to get all the room you'll need to remove the old packing. I've got at least 8" (although I never measured it). Get you nut loose and back it up the shaft. Use a packing puller (a small cork screw on a twistied wire) to extract the old tough packing. Get the smallest one you can find (0 or 1 ott?) at the auto parts store ~1/8" dia. The packing size is typically 1/4" square. I've used teflon impregnated flax with on problems for several years. The hardess problem is getting to the back of the engine, but you can master this with practice. I normally clear out both port and starboard cockpit lockers and stretch out across the boat. Once the old packing is out. Use a little very fine lapping compund on the threads and work the nut in and out on the shaft log threads. This will allow the nut to glide easily with only finger torque. Install three new packing rings and snug up the nut. Use a little teflon grease on the shaft to help initial break in. P.S. if you do use lapping compound to clean up your threads use only water soluable based compound and a wash it all out thoroughly proir to reassembly. By the way, changing your packing is easily done with the boat in the water. Check out a good reference book "This Old Boat" by Casey

I have an unusual problem-it appears someone installed one of those hard nylon "isolators" between my gearbox and prop flange.unfortunatley because it is about 1" thick I no longer have room to back my stuufing box packing nut up the shaft far enough to change the packing! I can unbolt the isolator from the prop flange but do not have clearance to get the gearbox bolts out-and forget trying to get the prop shaft out of the coupling-its a rusted mess-so without pulling the motor I am apparently up the creek! anyway-assuming I make it through the season I intend to pul

denny@nations.net