Shaft Log Hose

Hi all. I've been MIA for a while. I am getting back to my '68. It hasn't been in the water nor ran since two hurricanes ago.

I am replacing the shaft log hose and the replacement hose has thicker walls than the original. I am having great difficulty sliding the new hose onto the shaft log. The hose fits the seal portion perfectly. Anyone know of a hose expansion tool or have any tips? I have beveled the ID edge of the hose to a 45 deg angle with a Dremel tool. I have used soap for lube, I have boiled the hose in water to try to soften it. No luck on anything. I have even tried an old metal shoe spoon. It just won't go.

Do you have a 8lb mushroom anchor or the like? Try the center post(tie-off point).

I beat the living daylights out of the wire re-inforced I installed on the Mustang. I finally got it far enough on to double clamp and called it good. I would probably settle for non re-inforced next time. Like Bruce said, it is far better than the original and that lasted 40 years.

That's a good idea. I think what happens as the hose tries to overcome the wide part of the log, the wire stretches and hour glasses the hose making it near impossible to slip on. Good luck. I hope you don't warp your flange.

aaaaahhhhhh the old work smarter not harder theory..   

The shaft log hose is on! It went surprisingly easy. For all you mid-60 Mustang owners I used 3/8" all-thread cut to 9 " which turned out perfect. When I got back from the hardware store I went ahead and used 4 pieces for an "even pull" but it was not necessary. You can see two of the nuts are not even pulled up. Also, note that I beveled the inside edge of the hose to a 45 deg angle with a Dremel tool and I applied lots of liquid soap to make it slippery. I also ran the Dremel tool around the outside edge of the shaft log to knock off the sharp edge which was digging into the inside of the hose when I was trying to force the hose on by hand. The PVC pipe was slipped in to keep the hose from buckling under pressure from the jack screws. You can see it in the photo. I slipped the prop shaft in (from the rear) and let it "hang" in the shaft log to keep the PVC pipe from falling all the way through.

Keeganino,
The pvc pipe fits loose inside the hose but it is larger in diameter than the prop shaft. I did not think of using the prop shaft - that may work too. The hose definitely buckles without something to prevent it from doing so. I just happened to have the pvc laying on my bench from a water well project and it fit inside the hose and shaft log so I grabbed it. Also, in the back of my mind, I figured that if the pvc got jammed inside the shaft log I could get it out by some means. (Drilling, sawing, chewing, chomping... etc)

I did not have to use any pressure to get the shaft seal nut on. I used 3 layers of new packed which was wax impregnated as it arrived from SKIDIM. I tamped the packing tightly into the nut by placing a large bolt through the nut and pressing down on the inside diameter of the packing all the way around. I could see when I had the packing don even with the edge of the nut. One mistake I made a long time ago was to cut the packing so the cut edges came together inside the packing. This time I cut the packing so that there was about a 3/32" gap between the edges and it fit much nicer. I placed the 3 cuts 1/3 of the way around the packing nut from each other. I pulled the prop shaft out of the way and screwed the packing nut onto the shaft log a couple of turned. I pushed the prop shaft through the nut while turning the prop shaft slowly and lightly tapping on the end of the prop shaft with a 2 x 4. It slipped through the packing nut with some resistance but not much. I checked the end of the prop shaft for bits of packing material and there was none so I figured I did not tear up the packing with the shaft. Let us know how the project went. Be sure to bevel the inside corner of the hose with sand paper, a round file, or a dremel tool with a round sanding bit. Add lots of liquid soap. Sand off the sharp edge on the end of the shaft log is there is one (like on mine).

By the way, I chose a double-layered reinforced hose that does not have wire inside.