Alignment of shaft to trans

[unclefish]

I need to check the alignment of the shaft to the trans. When I did my parents boat the shaft where it came through hull was close to trans I did not have alot of flex on a 3" shaft. I did use the feeler gauge to do that boat. This MC 32 must have 4 ft to trans. When I get bolts out am I going to see this shaft go down alot?
Should I just go up and down and side to side a and try to find the sweet spot and block it?
The prop is off the boat right now will that make a difference to?
Boat does have a drippless to?
Thanks for help????

 

[F/V First Team]

What diameter shaft? 1 3/4? There will be some droop but shouldn't be awful, you should be able to correct this by lifting up with just your hand. Easiest way to check for side to side alignment is to slide the coupling back a little so that it does not fall off the centering ring and check your alignment there, after that slide it back off the centering ring and take into consideration your droop. You can also slide a small block of wood along the turn-down of your bilge so that it just comes into contact with your shaft, negating any droop that would happen. Makes it easier to check alignment, but you should still look at droop. And never stand/sit on your shaft - that's just bad ju-ju.

 

[unclefish]

2" shaft I am hoping my up and down is good had some broken forward engine mounts of coarse stainless steel fun to drill and ez out . They were actual easy to undo once I drilled a hole into broken bolt. The mounts look like the shifted side to side from original spot were bolted. I think it would be a good time to check before I go in next month.

 

[F/V First Team]

I've never had a 2" shaft droop much personally, but if the engine has shifted you might want to consider propping the shaft up and rotating the propeller while someone watches a dial indicator to see if the shaft is warped any. Even a ruler or a stick mounted to something solid in relation to the shaft could work.

 

[Raider Ronnie]

What diameter shaft? 1 3/4? There will be some droop but shouldn't be awful, you should be able to correct this by lifting up with just your hand. Easiest way to check for side to side alignment is to slide the coupling back a little so that it does not fall off the centering ring and check your alignment there, after that slide it back off the centering ring and take into consideration your droop. You can also slide a small block of wood along the turn-down of your bilge so that it just comes into contact with your shaft, negating any droop that would happen. Makes it easier to check alignment, but you should still look at droop. And never stand/sit on your shaft - that's just bad ju-ju.

"And never stand/sit on your shaft "

 

[F/V First Team]

Or the one in your boat either

:shock::-?:lol::twisted:

 

[unclefish]

i have a nice dial indacator on a magnetic mount that I can put on a piece of steel off the press that should stay put. Will these shafts have some play seeing it has 4000 hours on it. Have you ever seen these shafts twist over the years or does stainless just snap. We use to scribe a line down our axle shafts on race cars once they did a 1/2 turn we would chuck them.

 

[F/V First Team]

Of course they twist, that is how the propeller turns...

But seriously they shouldn't be bad like that, you might see some scoring where the cutlass bearings or packing glands are if you run in a high silica area, i.e. sandy water.

 

[unclefish]

how do check the cutlass bearing and is it easy to replace cause there is some rope burns all around it. While I have the shaft disconnected from trans.
And it is after 9 where is the mermaid of the day

 

[unclefish]

see I wished and there she appeared thanks for completing my day

 

[F/V First Team]

Visually, crumpled rubber or cracked rubber is a good indication that the bearing should be replaced. Take out the set screws in the fiberglass tube and get a good grip on the bearing casing, be it the bronze type or the composite, and pull it along the shaft (after you've removed the propeller and any line cutting device you might have in place) until it pops free, support the shaft with some wooden wedges so that it doesn't sag.

To install a new bearing lubricate shaft with soap and slide bearing in place, being sure to remove the wedges and fitting the bearing housing to the shaft tube. Tighten set screws and put the propeller and any line cutting devices you might have back on as well. Add water and enjoy.

I will be replacing my own rear bearing, maybe I'll put some photos up if I remember it

 

[unclefish]

Thanks I will look at it better tom. Night. But I thought mine was up in the tube flush or so.

 

[F/V First Team]

Usually there is enough of the bearing casing exposed to grab onto with a large pair of channel locks. If this is not the case consider lubricating the shaft from the water connection that cools it with a mixture of heavy soapy water and fabricate some metal rods with 90 degree ends turned up on them, like 1/8 of an inch or so after the bend, so you can slide them up the length of the bearing between the ribs of the bearing so you can slide it down the shaft.

 

[F/V First Team]

OR!

If you're a more daring fellow you can take some long screws, say 3" #10 self tapping panheads and screw those into the rubber then use those as your removal handles (wear gloves, leather if you have them) to get the bearing out. Just be careful not to get the shaft - bad ju-ju and all.

 

[unclefish]

thanks just never got to see one pulled or installed. When you wrap rope on it and run the boat doesn't it screw them up.

 

[F/V First Team]

Sometimes, it can melt the rubber and drag it through the fibers of the rope making a hard plug.

 

[tunafishhkg]

I replace mine every 2-3 yrs no matter what because of drying as its on the hard for 8m or so. If you have a tube, then you should have the new cutless threaded on the outside before installing and then leave enough out to catch the thread with a nut. This will protect the tube from damage and make life a lot easier next time you replace it.

 

[F/V First Team]

That's a pretty slick idea
Make a round nut with grips on it, have some extra threads up inside the tube as well, should make getting it started easier just by tightening the nut up

 

[tunafishhkg]

Best to make a wide flange puller nut you can reuse to spread the load on the fiberglass tube end face when screwing it in to pull cutlass out. You only have to thread about 3/4 of the outside of cutless so the nut acts as a puller against tube face, no need to thread the tube. I know turnwright machine uses a course thread to allow for any stuff in the thread from making it hard to screw nut and pull the cutless. Any machine shop could do this. A little crisco against the tube face does not hurt if its going hard.

 

[tunafishhkg]

I love the way Turnwright machine does my alignment. After measuring the runout with feeler gauges, He will check the threads of the mount then go on his calculator and know how much and where, front back,left side, or front side, he has to turn the nuts or put a little jack stand like pusher to push engine sideways, to get alignment. Gets me to zero runout in 1/4 the time it takes me(hrs). Worth it to get him to my boat even if I had to pay him which I do not. Love my friends