Cutlass Bearing Replacement

We are at the point of assembly on the BFN. With the motor/trans out and prop removed I have some shaft movement in the cutlass bearing. I will try and mount a indicator on it tomorrow to see how much. At this point my gut tells me to replace the bearing prior to re-assembly and alignment.
Any recomendations on where to buy this bearing? Can I inspect for a bent shaft with a bad cutlass bearing or slop in the system?
Thanks....

Tom,
Deep Blue has the 4" long cutlass. It is what I would install. Any longer and it just produces slightly more drag on the shaft. Install the cutlass all the way aft in the strut so it can take care of the radial loading of the prop as it's designed to do.

BTW, for the convenience of all, here's a proper link.

I'm gonna thread jack slightly... My strut has 2 - 2" bearings in it and I'm about to replace them. Obviously the shaft is worn in those two locations and not in the middle. Would there be an advantage or disadvantage to installing a 4" bearing instead of 2 - 2" bearings?

No, thats for a pair Gary. Supposedly longer life out of them vs. rubber, but time will tell on that- Joe is running them. The part that impressed me the most was the low resistance. Easily 1-finger spin-able, and the prop would do a few revolutions before coming to a stop. Zero play/slop too. Pretty impressive. Would have used them on the BFN if we didnt end up ordering a new strut for it (which came loaded with new rubber bushings). Ive got a pair of the XPC's on my desk just waiting to in something...

Yup! Poke your head under Joe's boat next time you see it.

Ordered a 4 inch bearing and new packing material today. Disassembled the packing nuts, rubber hose and pulled the shaft out of the hull.

Have been searching the site for detailed step by step instal/setup for the cutlass bearing removal/instalation and shaft alignment prior to mounting to the trans coupler. After reviewing the steps outlined in Pete's video....I am not to that point yet (although his video is excellent). Can someone provide a previous post or info that will educate me? Thank you.....Tom

Excellent....Thx Pete,
Will remove the bearing today. Is the bearing self centering? What function do the set screws serve other that keeping the bearing from working itself out of the strut? Do the set screws help align the bearing in any way?

I noticed that mine doesn't have screws in either of the holes!

With the new packing process this is what I found on a old thread. Is this the same for the PCM 454? I assume it is but want to check. My old packing had 2 pieces wrapped and staggered 180 degrees apart. The packing rope was under $ 5.00 I hope I purchased the correct packing from Deep Blue.

"Joe, wrap the flax rope around the drive shaft firmly and so that the rope overlaps itself (in a spiral fashion but touching). Then (with a very sharp blade) cut the rope where it overlaps so that you have both ends freshly cut. You will need at least 2 pieces but maybe 3 or more like this. Then coax these pieces into the packing gland. Stagger the gaps of each piece so they don't line up. Then take a socket (wrench) and roll it inside the gland to coax it into place so the the shaft will go through.

Fresh packing will not need to be tightened more than hand tight at first, but check your leakage in the water with the tranny in gear and running. About 1 drip every 15-20 seconds is good."

Did you put set screws in? Take any photos along the way?

For the packing material installation I followed the steps outlined on this site. My thought for tightning down the nut is...snugged it up aginst the packing and then 1/3 turn. Then put boat in water and leave it on the trailer and finish adjusting the nut there until I get the 3 drops per minute. Or is there something different I should do?

Ok Thanks Pete....

Did you line it up after replacing the cutlass and packing? Spray some water on the shaft and trying spinning it. It should spin pretty easily.

Having the packing nut too tight would cause the shaft to turn stiff. Loosen the packing nut and see what happens. The water shouldn't be hot.

After the cutlass and packing was installed there was zero play in the shaft in a un bolted state. At that point I slid the shaft/coupling up to the trans coupling and started adjusting the engine front and rear mounts until I met the .003 difference side to side and top to bottom. This took a couple of hours to adjust the engine until I had the gap correct.