As I understand it there is supposed to be a gap in the coupler (where the green arrow is pointing) to check with a feeler gauge. Mine appears to have no gap. Am I missing something?

JQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_w0LvD6gEc" rel="nofollow - link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UqniaiggKA&list=UUSHOLmJXRsWifyZKB9aR4jA&index=42" rel="nofollow - link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEqzJgCz_6w&list=UUSHOLmJXRsWifyZKB9aR4jA&index=41" rel="nofollow - link

Trey,

You missed what is being done with the gap. The gap is ONLY there when you are measuring for parallelism between the coupling faces. The engine is moved in any direction so the max difference side to side top to bottom is .003". This assures the prop shaft is aligned with the engine. After you get the max of .003"  the coupling halves are tightened. Take another look at one of the videos Ken linked.  Also as JQ mentioned, the prop shaft should be centered in the log. One other item on alignment is the shaft should also rotate freely in the cutlass bearing in the strut. 

Considering you moved the engine, I highly recommend a complete check for alignment.

I bet these videos will answer another question I had about how to remove the shaft itself. I will also search up the forum and YouTube for some repacking videos. 

Yes, you shouldn't be able to feel any shaft movement in the cutlass. 

On the removal of the coupling half off the prop shaft:

Jonny Quest wrote: Here is how I removed the coupler from the shaft In my direct drive.  First, I removed the safety collar from the driveshaft. Then I removed the bolts connecting the coupler to the transmission flange and separated the coupler from transmission flange. I was able to get 2” To 3” space between coupler and transmission flange.  Then I inserted a large, shallow socket between the coupler and transmission flange.  I then inserted some grade 8 bolts, washers and nuts through the coupler bolt holes and through the transmission flange.  Then by tightening down on the 4 bolts/nuts in sequence, the coupler on the prop shaft was “pressed” off the shaft.  Easy Peazy.  Hopefully my description makes sense. . JQ

Using find thread bolts and never seize will make it go easier. 

Multiple opportunities await you

You're gonna have the opportunity to learn how to take the coupling off your straight shaft with an interference fit as already mentioned.

Then you'll have the opportunity to learn how to remove the rudder so you can slide the shaft out

Then you should look at the rubber hose connecting the shaft log to the stuffing box because it's the ideal time to replace it if it looks old,ugly and cracked etc.

And then the opportunity to learn how to put that interference fit coupler back on the shaft which isn't any fun at all.

There are ways to make life easier by installing a double taper shaft but that comes with a price (new shaft and coupling).

Then reinstalling the rudder and deciding if you want to repack it at the same time.

I'd do lots of homework with searches here on CCF and elsewhere.

Some people might remove the rudder, leave the shaft alone and remove the strut to do the bearings, then reinstall the strut and do an alignment check. It avoids the shaft coupling removal and install issues  You don't get the opportunity to replace the hose between the stuffing box and the packing gland though   

Edit, based on a thought by Wetskier 2000 in a different thread, you could leave the rudder in place, unbolt the coupling halves and should have enough wiggle room to move the shaft enough to get the strut past the rudder.

 

Seriously, thanks for the run down. I will do some research and see what I am about to get into.

You sure are 

With the amount of slop you have, it's a good thing to take care of it now though.

On my '95 SN I found it easier to drop the strut instead of removing the gas tank to get to the rudder. 

So my plan of action is to replace the shaft and coupler with the double taper system, replace the cutlass bearings, repack the stuffing box and add a safety collar to the shaft. While doing all this I'm going to very carefully and patiently check all the alignments to make sure it is straight and true.

Now to start spending money amassing parts!

The shaft hits the rudder, which is logical and i expected to happen. Before I research how to remove/reinstall the rudder, I thought I would ask if there is any trick I’m missing to get the shaft out without removing the rudder. 

If I have to remove the rudder, any tips (or links) you would recommend? I’ll search the site and the inter web/YouTube etc as well.

Stainless will be easier to find. I've never had a problem with them being a dissimilar metal but, I'm in fresh  water. If you do get into salt or brackish It may be good to look for brass.

8122pbrainard wrote: Trey, Stainless will be easier to find. I've never had a problem with them being a dissimilar metal but, I'm in fresh  water. If you do get into salt or brackish It may be good to look for brass.

TG3 wrote: Thanks Pete. Only salt water here so I’ll go with Stainless. Maybe Lowe’s will have them and I can finish today.

So you say you're in salt water and you're gonna use stainless. 

Something's wrong here  

Maybe you meant to say "no salt water here"

As long as there's room between the packing gland, the safety collar and the shaft trans coupling, there's no problem. 

Oh look here's a picture of the tiller assembly on a boat that just spent 8 years in salt water- it's got stainless!

It is my understanding is that brass is not good in saltwater- bronze is preferred. I was warned by the Shamrock guys that people use brass water intake fittings because they can go to their local hardware store an buy them rather than use bronze which is more expensive and harder to find. I think it's the zinc in the brass that acts like a sacrificial anode and starts dissolving. 

Bronze and stainless are good together. 

I can think of a couple of reasons why you might want to consider shortening the hose to the original length of 3 1/2 inches

One is that if you want to repack the shaft in the future sometime, it's nice to have all the room you can to slide the gland nut forward so you can pick out the old packing and put new stuff in

Another is that with your double tapered shaft, if you want to remove the coupling at some time in the future, you need a tool to do it. Depending on the brand of shaft and coupling there are different tools and methods, but having all the space you can will make things easier.

You may have a country mile of space with the 4 inch hose, but a country mile and a half inch just might make life a lot easier in the future 

So here is the next question, which is finally coming back around to my post title. I have the new strut bearings installed. I slid the new shaft into place to check if it was centered in the log. It is not. The shaft is off center to the starboard side and down. It is not touching the log, but definitely not in the center. I slid the shaft all the way up so that it touched the transmission coupler, and the over and down is apparent there too. I did some measuring and the shaft is approximately 17/64” off center at the log. That’s just under 1/4”. Watching some videos from Ski Dim and Ron Tanis, I don’t think it has to be perfectly centered, but surely closer than what I have now.....

One thing puzzles me. When I uncoupled the old shaft, I don’t remember it dropping down and over, which it should have done and more so, considering the worn bearings. 

I inspected the strut and it appears to be straight, with no visible bends or damage/scraps to indicate that it may have been hit. When you look at the depression in the hull where the strut is bolted through, the strut is shifted to starboard, not centered in the depression, corresponding with the offset position in the log. 

What is the next step I should take to get the shaft more centered in the log?

It sounds like now you just slid the shaft through for a quick check and there's nothing tending to hold it up.

It also sounds like that's probably why your bearings were so worn and what is it that Pete always says......."alignment starts at the strut".

I'm figuring he'll be along to tell you that the strut should come off so it can be moved enough to get the shaft pretty well centered in the log. 

PS you Texans must have longer inches than the rest of us. I guess everything really is bigger in Texas 

TG3 wrote: I did some measuring and the shaft is approximately 17/64” off center at the log. That’s just under 1/4”.

The centering of the shaft in the log doesn't have to be perfect but the 1/4" is more than I would feel comfortable with. Also, the 1/4" puts the shaft very close if not actually touching the log. You mention the strut doesn't look bent but it's tough to see by just a visual. At one time it may have been installed incorrectly too?  The solution is removing the strut, cleaning it and the hull up and then refastening it aligned. Port to starboard alignment of the strut can be done with the slop/clearance of the mounting holes/bolts. Minor up and down is down is done with washers between the strut base and the hull. In your case to raise the shaft at the log, you would put the washers at the aft holes. Dry fit the strut to cleck the alignment first. 

I will pull the strut and realign it and hopefully that will do the trick.

Once I have it strut dry fit where I want it, I mark the position somehow and re-bed it in the 3M 4200 or 5200? I think I stumbled across that part in some other thread.....

Once you know the washers work for the up down and there's enough bolt hole clearance for the side to side during the dry fit, go fot the bedding. I suggest using 3M 4200 for bedding. Remember to take the weight off the forward end of the shaft when checking for shaft rotation in the cutlass. Some will rest the forward end of the shaft in a V block of wood. 

Grant, please elaborate!

Pete, I'll order up some 4200 and search the forum for application, I know I have seen that somewhere.

Grant,

I too have seen the method but, I've also seen where the bedding bond was broken causing a leak at the strut. These were however on older hulls where 3m 4200 or 5200 wasn't used. 

Trey,

I highly recommend removing the strut. 

Before:

Pete, yep I was worried about that too.  I haven't had any issues though, which is a good thing.  I was willing to risk it though.

Trey, as Pete mentioned, the best method is to pull the strut.

Once the strut is off the boat, is it possible to measure or gauge it somehow to see if it is bent?

Ok, thanks!

Sorry for being dense, would y'all mind walking me through how I set the block of wood and coordinate it with the alignment of the strut?

I trimmed as much of the sealant away with a razor blade, then tried tugging on it. I found some of Pete’s wisdom in another thread that suggested using a heat gun, so I did that. I pulled real hard and it popped off. Immediately following its release, my face stopped the strut from hitting the ground. Ouch. Now i have a huge knot on one of my cheekbones.

I carefully scrapped as much of the old sealant as possible off the hull. Is there anything I can use, like a scotchbrite wheel in a drill that will take that off without damaging the gel coat/fiberglass? 

Ok, that will make it easier to get the rest off. The bedding was very white. It had a smooth, rubbery texture.

You can put on a flat surface & sight it against a square for comparison.  Look at it from both front & rear ends.

Chris,

Sorry but I disagree. Typically the only machined surfaces on the strut is the bore and the bottom of the base so a square isn't going to tell you much. I wouldn't even trust the four holes in the base. The only consistent is the angle between the bore and the base and the height of the bore to the base. 

In the meantime, I was thinking, which is usually dangerous. Has anyone ever used a bore sighter for a rifle to align the shaft? 

Unless.....I put a little piece of wood flat against the face of the log on the transmission side of the log, then I could see if the dot was centered.

Maybe? Or waste of time and I should just do as you described with the shaft and the block of wood and quite trying to be fancy? 

I think you'll have enough 4200 to bed over 10 struts! 

Don't completely trust your sharpy marks. As you are thightening up the stut mounting bolts frequently check the shft for center and free to move in the cutlass. 

24 should be good to set the 4200 but I'd give it another 24 before getting the boat out on the water. 4200 is a moisture cure polyurethane so spraying water on it will speed up the cure. 

I followed the guidance in Pete’s and Ron Tanis’ videos and checked the alignment.

I understand i am looking for a difference in the measurements of no more than .003”, side to side, top to bottom.

Measurements are as follows:

.005” at the top, .004” at the bottom, so a difference of .001”.

.006” starboard side, .004” port side, so a difference of .002”.

This indicates that my motor is within tolerance of alignment, since my differences are no more than .003”.

Did I get all this right?

Trey,

You got it!   

I think Pete's kinda cute in his video 

Thanks guys!

I think you're through them now 

Well Keno, just one more opportunity! When i put the bolts in the coupler, they are a smidge too long, within .028” of the transmission bolts. Turns out the new driveshaft coupler is slightly thinner at the bolt flange then the old one. I know there wasn’t much clearance before, and the bolts don’t hit know, but that makes me very nervous.

Since finding a bolt 1/16” shorter is probably impossible, I’m going to run by Lowe’s tomorrow and get some stainless washers. That thickness will put the bolts back to about the same clearance as they were originally.

My Craftsman 1/2” drive break over bar has a hole in the end for hanging on the wall. It is the exact size of the coupling bolt, so I bolted it loosely to the coupling and it worked perfect to hold the shaft while I torqued the net down.

Sorry the pic is rotated sidewise, i couldn’t figure out how to make it straight.

Because your Android has a hole in it for hanging it on the wall Gary?

They go onto my computer just fine and magically decide to rotate (only sometimes and for no real apparent reason) with that wonderful picture posting feature here on CCF.

Or about half of the time you get an error and have to do it over again after renaming the picture, just to get it to post at all.

Post a picture showing where I need to drill the hole and the hole size too, 

I was going to install the prop on my new shaft this evening, so I searched the site to find out what the torque spec for the prop nut is. I found Pete’s write up on lapping the shaft.

So, is this a procedure I need to do with my new shaft? I really want to be done with this project and back on the lake, BUT i have taken this much time to get it all right, so if lapping is the right thing to do, I’m in.

So, as i’’m sure Shakespeare would have said, “To lap or not to lap, that is the question!”

Yes, I highly recommend lapping. It's important especially when you have ether a new shaft, prop or both. Lapping will take out any minor differences in the matting surfaces of the taper. 

Maybe it's not your last question   One answer might lead to another question

Your next question should probably be ............."should I have lapped the coupling on the other end of my tapered shaft?"

It's no different than the prop end of the shaft.

It's not anything that's absolutely necessary on either the prop or coupling end, but fits more in the "good things to do" category.

You have the opportunity to use your coupling removal tool, it looks like an ARE coupling you have and their tool works well especially in tight spaces like you have between the coupling and the transmission output flange in your picture below from when you installed the coupling

You also have the opportunity to wonder "why would somebody tell me that he highly recommends lapping  the prop to the shaft but not even mention the other tapered  end?"

I would think, with both being machined at same shop, the tapers would match.  

If ARE wanted it lapped ( or thought it needed it) they would have done it before they sent it to you or sent some lapping compound with the shaft and coupling.

They should math but keep in mind the tapers are done on different pieces of equipment. They may consider the taper " close enough but as Ken mentioned:

KENO wrote:   but fits more in the "good things to do" category.

Plus remember I found some that I didn't like looking at the prussian blue test.

We should probably quote my whole sentence Pete, instead of just part of it 

KENO wrote:   It's not anything that's absolutely necessary on either the prop or coupling end, but fits more in the "good things to do" category.

Sounds reasonable to me considering that you wouldn't have even found out about lapping the prop end if you didn't go searching for torque values.

And not lapping the prop isn't exactly the end of the world either. 

The bolt MUST be tight. If your steering is binding when you tighten it up, then you need a spacer washer on top of the rudder shaft. Spacers are added or removed depending on where the rudder port packing gland (nut) ends up after tightening it. The gland height will vari depending on how many wraps of packing is used, how tight it is as well as the type of packing. Did you just repack the rudder port? 

  http://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49758&title=rudder-packing-and-grease" rel="nofollow - https://www.correctcraftfan.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=49758&title=rudder-packing-and-grease

I feel that greasing a rudder port depends on the design of the port and not the type of packing used. As I mentioned in the other thread, the ports with seals are meant for grease and the ones with no seals no grease. If you grease a non sealed port, the grease will wash out in short order plus the grease may even trap contaminates like sand between the port bore and rudder shaft. Yes, the "Gortex" type packing is lubricated with PTFE but keep in mind the older flax type was also lubricated with a wax. 

Machining tolerance of ports and rudders are really sloppy plus how tight the packing compresses is another variable so, there are times when multiple spacers on top of the rudder shaft are needed. If the rudder moved freely before you removed it, there's a chance you didn't tighten the packing enough. 

Since a rudder shaft isn't continuatly turning and most of the time at a high RPM like a prop shaft, the rudder port can be tightened pretty tight. Snug up the gland and I'll bet the extra clearance will free up the rudder. 

As part of this project I replaced my 2 bilge pumps, so that system is working now like it should.