Stuffing box gone amuck

So today's task was to repack the prop stuffing box. However, what seemed to be a simple task was made infinitely more difficult by the lack of or improper maintenance. So I start off by loosening the hose clamp on the box side of the rubber hose so I wont accidentally torque it while tackling the 2 giant nuts. Silly me says gee lets take the other clamps off and spin it around just to check for condition. Well turns out on the under side there is a giant rip where someone had tried to remove the nuts without undoing the hose clamp, so when they twisted they twisted and ripped the hose at its midpoint. Someone got creative and "patched" it with rtv.

No problem I say I'll cut it off and put on a new one. So I cut it off and go to undo the 2 lock screws on the shaft key to slide the shaft off enough to put on the new hose. MFers are rusted in like no tomorrow. After an hour of soaking them with pb blaster, repeated hits with heat and ice water, and the biggest vice grips I own I can't even get them to budge. And of course the whole time I'm thinking well thank god the safety wire was on there they might of come loose on their own!!!

So I've admitted defeat and looks like I'm going to take it to the boat mechanic tomorrow and let them charge me a fortune to get them loose. Well unless anyone has any bright ideas.   

Yep, stuffing box can be a hassle...i've also got a 75 v-drive century, packing nuts directly underneath the transmission & completely invisible. Try it by feel only, with a mirror.......

I somehow got elected to pull 6 bearings on a 16 car ferry, 30ft shafts, they are not incased in bronze, I had the welders make me a puller with 1.125 all thread, they are 24 inches long, this is day three and i have the 2 worst ones two pull yet....I really thought i knew what a hard days work was, until now. my wife keeps asking why its so hard, you have always worked on boats, instead of using a 9/16ths wrench, im using 3" wrenches. and at times hooking a comealong to the wrench to break a bolt loose.

what did i get myself into?

i can still pound nails with it Pete

yea trust me vice grips are NOT my tool of choice and rarely leave my tool box. Unless I've done my research wrong won't I be able to use the socket/threaded rod trick to get the shaft out once I remove the set screws??? I let them sit in pb blaster over night so I'm going to give it a final shot later today and see what happens.

grimm i was just thinking about the same thing. Tackled the set bolts again today and snapped 1 clean off it was so rusted in there. So I'm left with either dropping $500-600 for a new prop or finding a way to repair the rubber hose without removing the shaft.

You could hoist up the engine & pull the shaft from the inside. would be extra work but cheaper than a new shaft.

Damn I'm new to this forum, but joined because I need to tackle the packing in my 97 super sport. Just looking at where it is, thought it would be nice if it could slide out the bottom to access. guess i'm goin in. I'm the only owner and have never had an issue before. noticed the past few year it took on more water over night. Now the bilge cant keep up. figured I'd do the drive shaft and rudder. any tricks??????>

gtxragtop wrote: took 220 sandpaper and cleaned out the bit of corrosion in the coupling. Was not much to remove. It then slipped right on/off again like butter.

The coupler needs to be a press fit. If it slipped back on to the shaft without heating, the shaft may come loose under load.

Ok So after doing some research I'm down to 3 options. I ruled out the rubber hose patch idea bc its just not worth the risk, and I'd constantly worry about it.

1. Drill out the set screws and then tackle popping the shaft out of the coupler. ($5, but will probably take a weekend after all is said and done)
2. Slice the coupler long ways and just buy a new coupler($85 and about 2hrs to slice through it)
3. Cut the Shaft and buy an ARE double taper($450 and 2hrs to cut through SS)

SO now I just need to evaluate how much my time is worth and if Id rather waste money or waste my time. This also would drain my ACME 422 prop fund. Not even sure #2 is possible, just an idea I had that it had to be softer than SS. #1 may backfire as this boat was in salt water for about 2 years so I'm thinking the coupler may be a solid block of rust. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.

On a side note after noticing brand new shiny engine mounting bolts where everything else is dirty/rusty it appears this sucker had a new engine put in or atleast, which would also explain why it says EFI on the side of the boat but has a newer carb on it.

if you opt to cut the shaft, use a cut off wheel, dont mess around with a swazall....5 minutes, really, what happens if you spend the weekend d*cking with the set screws only to find out the shaft is whooped? the ARE is the way to go

SNobsessed wrote: gtxragtop wrote: took 220 sandpaper and cleaned out the bit of corrosion in the coupling. Was not much to remove. It then slipped right on/off again like butter. The coupler needs to be a press fit. If it slipped back on to the shaft without heating, the shaft may come loose under load.

gtxragtop wrote: Was not much to remove. It then slipped right on/off again like butter.

NG,
Chris is correct. You have a problem just waiting to happen.

personally i think it's the bearings causing the problem or they have welded the shafts in the past and they have the paperclip effect

all relevent