Shaft Packing-- Did I do something wrong

I have an 89 Supra with a PCM 351. I have had it for a couple of years, but until last year I never had repacked the shaft. It was leaking pretty good, so I ordered some GoreTex packing from SkiDim and followed the instructions.

When I did it, I recall being unsure how much to tighten down the nut. I wasn't sure if I did it too tight, too loose, or just right.

But it seemed to work pretty good. I still leaked, but just a bit.

Then toward the end of the year it started leaking more again. I didn't do anything about it until now. I decided that as part of the spring tune up I would tighten it up a bit and see if that slowed down my now reoccurring leak.

Well, when I tightened it, I noticed that it appeared to be leaking the goretex out the bottom of the nut. See the picture below. I guess this is why it was leaking more water again. My question is-- does this mean I did something wrong-- was it too tight, or too loose, or anything? I am not really sure.

And now I am not sure if tightening the nut was the right thing to do now. I won't be able to get it in the water for another week or so. So given that it was leaking goretext, did I do the right thing? Any other advice?

Thanks

Jared

your really killing business with that alignment thing, that was my secret devil out there. dont worry there are about 2 million boats out there with alignment problems.

i got a trans in last week from June of last year, tested it, no problem, so i decide to open it cause it was a noise complaint, sure as *************** the case is worn at the top indicating MA. told the customer his alignment was off and he replied "no it wasnt it looks good" irrately btw
honed the case re-sealed, cleaned the trans and will ship back with the understanding that i am not warrantying the trans from here on out. another satisfied customer, they just dont believe me

8122pbrainard wrote: Jared, It looks like you over tightened the packing causing it to overheat and the reason the Lubricant came out. The leaking may not have been caused by a tightness but rather the method used to install the packing. Did you cut the Gortex in full circle segmented rings? Did you overlap the joints? How many rings did you put in? What was the surface condition of the shaft? Did you check to see if it was hot a couple minutes after repacking?

I did my best to the cut the packing to the circumference of the shaft, so the ends just butted up. I did this three times and staggered the locations of the butt joints.

I don't recall the condition of the shaft, and I haven't checked alignment. I didn't check it for heat.

If this problem was caused by overheating, does that mean I did the wrong thing by tightening it some more? I really only tightened it 3/4 of a turn.

Jared

my first question alway is "what kinda boat"
if they start with M extra 200.00,

they use special transmissions lol

When I bought the boat I took it to a shop and they said the alignment looked fine, but I think they may not have really looked at it.

I have been meaning to check it, but never did it. Does anyone have a link to a good step by step instruction?

Jared

Can I restart this thread? I am still having this same problem. I have replaced the shafting packing twice, and twice it has overheated and started leaking out.

So before I do it again, how do you correctly tighten it down so it does not overheat?

To clarify here was my procedure:

1) loosen lock nut
2) unscrew the big nut
3) pick out old packing
4) cut three pieces of new packing to the circumference of the shaft
5) put new pieces into bit nut, staggering the position of the joints
6) screw big nut back on
7) tighten lock nut.

That all seems easy enough. The problem is with step number 6). I think I am tighten it down too much. So what is the correct way to do this? How much torque on the big nut? How do you know when to stop? When you first feel contact? Or when it gets hard to screw on?

This is really annoying.

Thanks for any help

Jared

I got the packing from SkiDim. Told them what boat I had, they told me I needed 1/4 inch. And I confirmed that with a guy from supra.

I am pretty sure I am just doing step number 6 to far in.

I just got some new stuff. Maybe I install it, but don't screw in the big nut till I get to the lake. Or just keep it loose till then. Then tighten it till I get the right rate of drips.

Sound like a decent plan?

Jared

OK, I am ready to give this another shot. But I have another question. Should I be using four pieces of packing? I don't remember where I got the idea that it was three pieces, but when I did some more searching I found many places where they say to use four pieces.

Jared

Jared,
As mentioned, 4 rings if they fit and you still have plenty of thread engagement on the packing nut.

You got the correct packing - Chris (daddyo) asking sounds like he gets his from a plumber friend!!

Have you checked the shaft for straightness forward of the strut? (part of the alignment procedure)

eric lavine wrote: it looks a touch discolored Pete, did he groove it up?

Eric,
He's cooked it twice and the reason I've asked him to open it up and look at the contact surface of the shaft!

I took it apart again. Pulled out the shaft packing, and took a look at the shaft.

The shaft is clearly shiny where the packing rides, but there are no grooves that I could feel.

When I pulled out the old packing the ends were sure messed up. I wonder if I cut the pieces to long, and that was part of the problem.

Jared