Coupling puller
Posted: Jan 27th, '07, 16:31
Running these boats is more fun than should be allowed. But then there is the often maintenance which I love.
I noticed my dripless shaft bearings were not so dripless. I could push on the starboard bushing and get water gushing into the bilge. The port side leaked enough also. So I decided it was time for me to mess with probably the last system on this boat that I haven't messed with yet.
On the starboard side, I got lazy or had a brain fart, because I removed the shaft coupling from the tranny flange and proceeded to use two longer bolts and a large socket between the coupling and the flange and slowly push the shaft out. It finally worked and the coupling and shaft were parted. I pulled the shaft all the way back to the rudder and the coupling fell off. I grabbed it and sanded the inside with 320 wet/dry and painted it. Then I discovered the body of the dripless actually needed more room, but the shaft was bottomed out on the rudder. So, I dropped the rudder into my wife’s kayak, cleaned it up and put new zincs on it and removed the dripless body and replaced the bushing. This is not a PSS unit but a Strong. Since It was put on by a previous owner, I went with it. Once the paint dried and I put on the new hose and dripless body with the new bushing, I put some Vaseline on the shaft and slid the coupling on like it knew where to go. One side finished.
Now that I’m a little smarter and moving on to the port side, I first removed the rudder, but not before having to dismantle the bearing that was rusted silly. I should have replaced it when I replace the starboard side and built a new rudder shelf. Got the rudder off and proceeded to remove the coupling from the flange, pushed the shaft back as far as I could, then I hooked my two anchor wheel puller to the coupling to push out the shaft. Only problem was that when I went to turn the puller shaft, the whole propeller shaft would turn, so I tried to stop that with a long breaker bar between the puller anchors. All that did was move the puller off center and it kept popping off. Of course, you have so much abundant room down there to work with. I finally got frustrated and went back to the two bolts and a ratchet socket between the coupling and the flange. My next discovery was that since I was on the port side I had to pull toward me and stop at the gas tank unlike the other side where I could start at the gas tank with the ratchet and push down. So now I am getting about a 20th of a turn with each pull before I have to rotate the coupling and put an open end wrench on the back side and jam it against the tranny to keep the shaft from turning. I get about 20 pulls per on full revolution on the bolts. Today, I got about 5/8th of an inch with about 2 more inches to go. I stopped early so Pat and I could go to Carraba’s and then to a hockey game and drink beer.
I haven’t had this much fun since I had a parachute malfunction. So if anyone knows a simpler way besides taking a sawzall and cutting your way into the engine room from the bottom, please let me know.
Cheers
Dick
I noticed my dripless shaft bearings were not so dripless. I could push on the starboard bushing and get water gushing into the bilge. The port side leaked enough also. So I decided it was time for me to mess with probably the last system on this boat that I haven't messed with yet.
On the starboard side, I got lazy or had a brain fart, because I removed the shaft coupling from the tranny flange and proceeded to use two longer bolts and a large socket between the coupling and the flange and slowly push the shaft out. It finally worked and the coupling and shaft were parted. I pulled the shaft all the way back to the rudder and the coupling fell off. I grabbed it and sanded the inside with 320 wet/dry and painted it. Then I discovered the body of the dripless actually needed more room, but the shaft was bottomed out on the rudder. So, I dropped the rudder into my wife’s kayak, cleaned it up and put new zincs on it and removed the dripless body and replaced the bushing. This is not a PSS unit but a Strong. Since It was put on by a previous owner, I went with it. Once the paint dried and I put on the new hose and dripless body with the new bushing, I put some Vaseline on the shaft and slid the coupling on like it knew where to go. One side finished.
Now that I’m a little smarter and moving on to the port side, I first removed the rudder, but not before having to dismantle the bearing that was rusted silly. I should have replaced it when I replace the starboard side and built a new rudder shelf. Got the rudder off and proceeded to remove the coupling from the flange, pushed the shaft back as far as I could, then I hooked my two anchor wheel puller to the coupling to push out the shaft. Only problem was that when I went to turn the puller shaft, the whole propeller shaft would turn, so I tried to stop that with a long breaker bar between the puller anchors. All that did was move the puller off center and it kept popping off. Of course, you have so much abundant room down there to work with. I finally got frustrated and went back to the two bolts and a ratchet socket between the coupling and the flange. My next discovery was that since I was on the port side I had to pull toward me and stop at the gas tank unlike the other side where I could start at the gas tank with the ratchet and push down. So now I am getting about a 20th of a turn with each pull before I have to rotate the coupling and put an open end wrench on the back side and jam it against the tranny to keep the shaft from turning. I get about 20 pulls per on full revolution on the bolts. Today, I got about 5/8th of an inch with about 2 more inches to go. I stopped early so Pat and I could go to Carraba’s and then to a hockey game and drink beer.
I haven’t had this much fun since I had a parachute malfunction. So if anyone knows a simpler way besides taking a sawzall and cutting your way into the engine room from the bottom, please let me know.
Cheers
Dick