Shaft strut question...

It looks to me like you may have a bent strut and a drive-shaft alignment problem. To quote Pete: "shaft alignment starts at the strut". The drive-shaft should sit nice and centered inside the strut with good concentricity. Yours looks to be more than just a little off.

If you have a dial indicator, you can also check the drive-shaft to verify straightness or if it's bent. Either way, it looks like you have some work to do...

JQ


[Class, the word for today is "concentricity". It means circles having a common center]

8122pbrainard wrote: Mark, It looks like there's already a score mark on the shaft (seen in the first picture) so I don't feel there's much time left before you'll need to attend to the cutlass. Also, it sure looks like there's a alignment problem with the strut. I see the shaft is running low at the aft and high forward. This also would cause premature cutlass wear. How's the shaft in the log and through the hole in the hull?

Thanks for the input so far gang. Here are a few more pics. I'll open up the log tomorrow and look around. The shaft does turn freely by hand, and doesn't show any signs being bent from a visual. I'll see if I can scare up a dial indicator. Strut appears normal, and my gut tells me it's never been off the boat from my visual inspection. The scoring doesn't really feel like scoring, but the color of that one-inch portion of the shaft is obvious. But you certainly wouldn't have scoring that far aft on a shaft that doesn't move fore and aft....hmmmm....

I see where you mean Peter, thanks. I'll put a tool in there and check to see if there is scoring, and it's depth. Is any amount acceptable, or would a new shaft be in order?

Clearly a new cutlass is needed, along with a correct alignment. So with it all out, it makes sense to do it right with a long term solution.

What’s the 710 cap for on the engine? It’s a S19 lol

All righty then... A new 422 prop on it's way. Dressed out my old one and it'll be fine as a spare. I'll do a bit more filing of a few old nicks and give it a test. If all good, I'll forgo having it 'reconditioned' based on what seems to be a mixed bag of results.

I'm going to go ahead and replace the strut bearing. As TIm correctly pointed out, my strut is an S19. It accepts a 1 inch shaft. I see some different OD strut bearing measurements. Which is the correct one inch bearing that I need to order?

I'll also spring for the ARE shaft. Just seems so much simpler from an install and future maintenance standpoint. What would be the correct shaft length for this 96 196?

Thanks gang.

Mark

8122pbrainard wrote: Mark, It's 1&1/4"

It's a one inch shaft.

Yeah, got it. Juuuust a bit slow this am. ;-)

ultrarunner wrote: I'll also spring for the ARE shaft. Just seems so much simpler from an install and future maintenance standpoint. What would be the correct shaft length for this 96 196? Thanks gang. Mark

Call Vince at www.skidim   He will know the shaft length and get you set up with a new A.R.E. unit.

JQ