pss dripless

[Charlie J]

well i think i jinks my self about 6 mouths ago when i said a havent had any problems with the pss after 10 years, noticed they are starting to leak very little after i splashed yeasterday, question is there a way to clean them up, or mabe tighten the stainless coller and put more preasure on the seal. anyone have a sugestion.

[CaptPatrick]

Charlie,

Just adjust the collar back to add some more tension to the bellows hose. Should't need anything more than that. Start with a 1/4", don't over compress...

Br,

Patrick

[Harry Babb]

Charlie
I just purchased a pair of the PSS seals to soon be installed in my 31.

My disqualification in addressing your drip is that this is my first encounter with these seals.....therefore I am not an expert.........I have not done to the PSS seals what I am going to suggest.

My qualifications in addressing your request for advice is that the PSS seals are no more than a version of a Mechanical Seal that is commonly used in industrial applications and I have done this repair to industrial seals. You actually have 2 other mechanical seals on your boat located in the raw water pumps.

These seals are basically pretty simple.......their ability to seal is directly dependent on the surface finish of the 2 mating faces. If you continue to have a drip after adjusting the tension then you will need to disassemble and refinish the sealing surfaces. This assuming that your Bellows is in good shape.

Look around and find a "Mechanical Seal" repair company. In our area I would use the John Crane Company. There are other shops that can do a good job as well.

They will reface the stainless steel "Rotating Body" in a lathe (has to be faced exactly square with the shaft bore) and Lap the carbon graphite "Stationary Body" to a very fine finish and extreme flatness.

A mechanic friend told me a while back that during a tournment one of his customers developed a leak and that he simply took the Rotating Body off of the shaft and resurfaced it by rubbing it on a piece of 400 grit wet or dry sand paper laying on a glass surface. After getting a good surface with the 400 he polished it even further with a piece of 600 grit. The trick is FLAT and SMOOTH............no matter how you get there.

Harry

[CaptPatrick]

Harry,

The composite face, connected to the bellows hose, wears to the face collar, attached to the shaft. Charlie has been running his seals for a decade & that wear has finally released enough tension, originally set when installed, to allow a slight drip. There's no need to, on the PSS, to re-machine anything. They are already faced, from use, concentric with the shafts.

Randall had the same occurance a few years ago, followed the adjustment advice, and no leaks.

Br,

Patrick

[Harry Babb]

I gotcha Pat...............As I said.....I will be installing PSS seals in DeNada hopefully very soon...........Information that you just shared is invaluable. You just saved me a lot of work in a few years after my seals get a bunch of hours on them.

Thanks

Harry

[randall]

man ,patrick.....you have a good memory .

[Charlie J]

thank you gentleman, will let you know the out come.i hope its that simple, bellows are in good shape

[Rawleigh]

Just remember to "burp: them on launch and to occasionally push the bellows back in the water to clean the seal surface of any debris. Sand is not your friend with them!! Other than that I love mine!

[randall]

ive never "burped" mine, what'r you talkin about?

[34Hatt]

Burping is mention in the paper work but that is for the low speed one's. If you have the high rpm it has a cooling hose you don't need to burp them. Which is letting the air out by pulling the face away from the collar.
I also have had mine 3 years now since the repower love them.

Paper work recommends replacing the bellows every 7 years. What do most of you all do with that. I have seen ones 10 years old and bellows still looks and feels like new one's.