Sam;
Looks like the original f/g shaft tube pokes out about 1/2" into the aperature, and the bearing about 1 full inch. Does that sound right? After chipping away the bonding goop there was only one set screw left; the other must have broken away during a previous replacement. Anyway, the brass tube is really stuck. Did you need any special tricks to get it out? I'm going to try twisting it with a pipe wrench tomorrow.
Matt; tks again, your socket trick worked great.
yahrling@cybertours.com
Cutless bearing removal; Attn Sam and Matt
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Dana Mosher
Re: Cutless bearing removal; Attn Sam and Matt
I've had to do this several times. It may require the use of a old fashion hack saw.After the shaft is removed cut a single cut on the inside of the bearing until it is cut through the brass sleeve. Then a pair of vise grips clamped onto that part of the bearing thats extends and just start prying it out. a mistake that many folks make is that after they install the new bearing they cut off the part that extends out. don't do that. they make it longer for a reason.: Sam;
tdmosher@mint.net
chuck yahrling wrote: Looks like the original f/g shaft tube pokes out about 1/2" into the aperature, and the bearing about 1 full inch. Does that sound right? After chipping away the bonding goop there was only one set screw left; the other must have broken away during a previous replacement. Anyway, the brass tube is really stuck. Did you need any special tricks to get it out? I'm going to try twisting it with a pipe wrench tomorrow.
Matt; tks again, your socket trick worked great.
tdmosher@mint.net
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sam
Re: Cutless bearing removal; Attn Sam and Matt
Danas answer ends in sam but it is not I (think he did not erase all your msg)
His comments sound right. I removed the set screws and actually cut off some of the 'putty' so I can get vice grips on the cutlass. Most of the time, I could hammer it out but once it was so struck I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut it longitudinally. you will probably cut a bit of the fiberglass tube doing this so be careful. reinserting the new cutlass was easy with a rubber hammer. Make sure the hole is clean (the cutlass should slide in part of the way easily and light taps should get it all the way. Don't pound too hard or it will deform. It will stick out some. I use marinetex to fair out the end. you will want new set screw holes. Have I missed anything?
One side note. For reasons best know to Andy Vavolitis- the cutlass does not have a source of water. It only gets what water it can from the back end of the cutlass. I have so much experience with cutlass because they were wearing out rather fast running dry. I finally drilled a couple of holes thru the hull just forward of the cutlass (but behind the stuffing box) and put in a couple of ears made from a copper tube. this forces water into the top end of the cutlass where it can flow out. The cutlass lasts much longer.
His comments sound right. I removed the set screws and actually cut off some of the 'putty' so I can get vice grips on the cutlass. Most of the time, I could hammer it out but once it was so struck I had to use a hacksaw blade to cut it longitudinally. you will probably cut a bit of the fiberglass tube doing this so be careful. reinserting the new cutlass was easy with a rubber hammer. Make sure the hole is clean (the cutlass should slide in part of the way easily and light taps should get it all the way. Don't pound too hard or it will deform. It will stick out some. I use marinetex to fair out the end. you will want new set screw holes. Have I missed anything?
One side note. For reasons best know to Andy Vavolitis- the cutlass does not have a source of water. It only gets what water it can from the back end of the cutlass. I have so much experience with cutlass because they were wearing out rather fast running dry. I finally drilled a couple of holes thru the hull just forward of the cutlass (but behind the stuffing box) and put in a couple of ears made from a copper tube. this forces water into the top end of the cutlass where it can flow out. The cutlass lasts much longer.
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Matt Cawthorne
Re: Cutless bearing removal; Attn Sam and Matt
Chuck,
My CD-36 has a bronze fitting at the back and nothing can protrude because there is a plate that covers the fitting and keeps the bearing from sliding out. Getting the cutlass bearing out of the blind hole was a matter of using a hacksaw blade (bring a bunch, they break) and sawing a slot along the axis. Once done you can tear it out. My cutlass did not just slide back in. I cooled it in a freezer and expected it to slide in. In fact it went in about 1/2 way and stopped. It would not go in or out. Pounding was necessary. A piece of wood was used as a buffer to keep from damaging the end. Why I did not destroy it is a mystery. Next time I will go to a machine shop and have a shaft made up with a shoulder. The shaft will support the bearing and the shoulder will evenly distribute the load. The bearing is 5 years old now and seems to be holding up well.
Enough water to lubricate the bearing is usually available from the back end unless your mountings are soft enough to allow your prop or zinc to press against the back of the bearing. If you are in doubt about the accessibility of water just loosen your stuffing box. Keep your stuffing box loose when you put the boat in the water to purge any air from the bearing.
What technique did you eventually use to get the coupling off?
Matt
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net
My CD-36 has a bronze fitting at the back and nothing can protrude because there is a plate that covers the fitting and keeps the bearing from sliding out. Getting the cutlass bearing out of the blind hole was a matter of using a hacksaw blade (bring a bunch, they break) and sawing a slot along the axis. Once done you can tear it out. My cutlass did not just slide back in. I cooled it in a freezer and expected it to slide in. In fact it went in about 1/2 way and stopped. It would not go in or out. Pounding was necessary. A piece of wood was used as a buffer to keep from damaging the end. Why I did not destroy it is a mystery. Next time I will go to a machine shop and have a shaft made up with a shoulder. The shaft will support the bearing and the shoulder will evenly distribute the load. The bearing is 5 years old now and seems to be holding up well.
Enough water to lubricate the bearing is usually available from the back end unless your mountings are soft enough to allow your prop or zinc to press against the back of the bearing. If you are in doubt about the accessibility of water just loosen your stuffing box. Keep your stuffing box loose when you put the boat in the water to purge any air from the bearing.
What technique did you eventually use to get the coupling off?
Matt
chuck yahrling wrote: Sam;
Looks like the original f/g shaft tube pokes out about 1/2" into the aperature, and the bearing about 1 full inch. Does that sound right? After chipping away the bonding goop there was only one set screw left; the other must have broken away during a previous replacement. Anyway, the brass tube is really stuck. Did you need any special tricks to get it out? I'm going to try twisting it with a pipe wrench tomorrow.
Matt; tks again, your socket trick worked great.
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net
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chuck yahrling
Re: Cutless bearing removal; Attn Sam and Matt
I first used a 3/8 drive socket (9/16) and squeezed the flanges together, using two different-length sets of 4 bolts (hardware store), one to get the sqeezin' started and a shorter set to pull the flanges tight. (The original bolts and nuts were too short, and a bolt long enough to start fetched up on the reverse gear before the flanges got within 1/2 inch).Matt Cawthorne wrote: Chuck,
My CD-36 has a bronze fitting at the back and nothing can protrude because there is a plate that covers the fitting and keeps the bearing from sliding out. Getting the cutlass bearing out of the blind hole was a matter of using a hacksaw blade (bring a bunch, they break) and sawing a slot along the axis. Once done you can tear it out. My cutlass did not just slide back in. I cooled it in a freezer and expected it to slide in. In fact it went in about 1/2 way and stopped. It would not go in or out. Pounding was necessary. A piece of wood was used as a buffer to keep from damaging the end. Why I did not destroy it is a mystery. Next time I will go to a machine shop and have a shaft made up with a shoulder. The shaft will support the bearing and the shoulder will evenly distribute the load. The bearing is 5 years old now and seems to be holding up well.
Enough water to lubricate the bearing is usually available from the back end unless your mountings are soft enough to allow your prop or zinc to press against the back of the bearing. If you are in doubt about the accessibility of water just loosen your stuffing box. Keep your stuffing box loose when you put the boat in the water to purge any air from the bearing.
What technique did you eventually use to get the coupling off?
Matt
chuck yahrling wrote: Sam;
Looks like the original f/g shaft tube pokes out about 1/2" into the aperature, and the bearing about 1 full inch. Does that sound right? After chipping away the bonding goop there was only one set screw left; the other must have broken away during a previous replacement. Anyway, the brass tube is really stuck. Did you need any special tricks to get it out? I'm going to try twisting it with a pipe wrench tomorrow.
Matt; tks again, your socket trick worked great.
Then I removed the socket and put a nut-and-bolt combo as a spacer(nut on the end opposite the head); about twice the length of the socket. I couldn't use a deep-well because it was too thick to fish in. Went through the same two sets of bolts, and it finally came off.
It took two hours; and that's with me sitting right in front of the coupling. I can't imagine doing all that hanging over the engine or laying in the port locker!
Epilogue on cutless: I drilled a 1/4 hole transversely through the exposed part, and drove a pin punch in, then tapped the pin punch with a hammer until it started to twist and also emerge. Took about ten minutes to get it halfway out, after which I could wrestle it out by hand. On inspection, I see that about the first 4 inches of the shaft tube (from aperature forward) seems to be a bushing (and a bit egg-shaped). This part of the tube is bondo-ed into a larger that seems to be the original shaft tube. Maybe that's how it came from the factory but it looks like a repair. I'm digging the bondo out for a half inch or so into the keel and replacing it with new epoxy just to be safe; I have to improvise the set screws anyway, so I think I'll build up some cloth around the new cutless, tying it into the deadwood, "ankle-tape" style.
yahrling@cybertours.com
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D. Stump, Hanalei
Re: Something to think about.....
Chuck,
Just food for thought, but Hanalei(ex Happiness) CD-30 had the fiberglas shaft tube you mentioned. I say had, because she almost sank at the dock on the previous owner because that tube developed a crack between the stuffing box and the point where it entered the hull. His first notice of the problem was of course water in the bilge. He installed a Rule bilge pump, but found that his battery was dead after a week at the dock, ie. the pump was running a LOT! Gordon Swift (from Wooden Boat School) was the guy that stored Happiness during the winterin Seabrook, NH and he told the owner to pull the boat, and he(Gordon) pulled that fiberglas tube and replaced it with a red brass pipe. The new shaft galley is now permanent, no chance of a crack developing. The cutlass bearing slides into the pipe, and is held by a brass external to the hull fitting, with two screws into the hull top and bottom. I haven't yet had to replace the cutlass, but anticipate it being much easier than what you all are going through.
At any rate, you might want to at least inspect that tube inside the hull, and if you did try twisting the cutlass with a pipe wrench, make sure that didn't fracture the glas somewhere upstream so to speak. And, if you have the time, and the inclination, you might change out the fiberglas tube with the red brass, and never worry about it again.
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei (CD-30)
Just food for thought, but Hanalei(ex Happiness) CD-30 had the fiberglas shaft tube you mentioned. I say had, because she almost sank at the dock on the previous owner because that tube developed a crack between the stuffing box and the point where it entered the hull. His first notice of the problem was of course water in the bilge. He installed a Rule bilge pump, but found that his battery was dead after a week at the dock, ie. the pump was running a LOT! Gordon Swift (from Wooden Boat School) was the guy that stored Happiness during the winterin Seabrook, NH and he told the owner to pull the boat, and he(Gordon) pulled that fiberglas tube and replaced it with a red brass pipe. The new shaft galley is now permanent, no chance of a crack developing. The cutlass bearing slides into the pipe, and is held by a brass external to the hull fitting, with two screws into the hull top and bottom. I haven't yet had to replace the cutlass, but anticipate it being much easier than what you all are going through.
At any rate, you might want to at least inspect that tube inside the hull, and if you did try twisting the cutlass with a pipe wrench, make sure that didn't fracture the glas somewhere upstream so to speak. And, if you have the time, and the inclination, you might change out the fiberglas tube with the red brass, and never worry about it again.
Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei (CD-30)