Cutlass bearing in strut

[Bowserbc]

Help. My strut cutlass bearing destructed. Gone with no warning. About a quarter inch play now on the shaft so can’t run the motor. yanmar 2ym 16 with 100 hours. Also the boat has a Wicso 14 /8 folding prop on a 1 inch shaft. No idea how to get the prop off. I have a Campbell sailor 14/8.spare , would this be the time to switch? No one in Canada in bc here has ever heard of a Wicso prop. The boat is an Albin cumulus 28. I have about a 70 km sail to the nearest trav lift so hoping to get some ideas before the boat comes out. Any help and advice appreciated. Robert on Breeze in Deep Bay BC Canada.

[Cheechako]

Any way to rig an outboard for the trip? A lot of currents up there.

[Dsanduril]

It's been a long time since I saw one of those. IIRC (and it is foggy) the Wisco has separate hinge pins for each blade.

1. remove hinge pins - there may be a smaller pin/cotter key that runs through the prop hub and then through both hinge pins to hold them in place - don't recall exactly.

2. remove blades from hub (they should pretty much fall out once the pins are pulled).

3. behind (well, in front since you will be looking toward the front of the boat) the blades you will see a round nut in the center of the hub that holds the hub on the shaft. Again, IIRC it has either a square or hex recess for drive to remove. What I don't recall is how that nut is locked - there may be a set screw through the body of the hub, or there may be a pin.

That's my recollection but it is quite hazy and I've seen a few folders so I could be thinking of one of the others. On the other hand, many are pretty similar - there is frequently a shaft nut buried in the hub that can only be accessed after removing the blades.

[Drumroll30]

If the bearing went at only 100 hours you had better check your engine alignment when you replace the bearing.

[Bowserbc]

Hi thanks for the advice. I checked with Alltech Diesel who did the install of the new engine. They checked the bearing but did not replace it. The alignment was checked in water at 50 and 100 hours. I checked for play by pulling on the shaft at haulout last summer all was fine. I am suspecting the folding prop was not fully opening and causing vibration. I have ordered a three blade Campbell sailor prop and giving up on the folding prop. Thanks for your comments. Robert

[stormalong]

It may be easier to pull the prop shaft out of the coupler and leave the prop mounted to the shaft.

It will be easier to replace the cutless bearing with the shaft out anyway. You might find that even after removing the set screws that hold the bearing in place that it will not move. You will have to press out or cut out the old bearing. Whatever you do, do not try to pound it out. You do not know how well the strut is attached to the hull or how strong the hull is. Light tapping may be OK but resist the urge to pound it out.

[flyingfin]

Originally Posted by Bowserbc

Help. My strut cutlass bearing destructed. Gone with no warning. .

Really, no warning? How old was it?

[Bowserbc]

It was checked last summer and was fine. I did not notice any vibration. At 2500 rpm the shaft suddenly started shaking. I shut down and then dove on the bottom and discovered it was gone. There may be some still in there. Boat out this week. Have to sail it to Nanaimo bc. Robert

[thruska]

Originally Posted by stormalong

It may be easier to pull the prop shaft out of the coupler and leave the prop mounted to the shaft.

It will be easier to replace the cutless bearing with the shaft out anyway. You might find that even after removing the set screws that hold the bearing in place that it will not move. You will have to press out or cut out the old bearing. Whatever you do, do not try to pound it out. You do not know how well the strut is attached to the hull or how strong the hull is. Light tapping may be OK but resist the urge to pound it out.

I agree, any tapping ok but pounding on prop could lead to story of damage to trans housing, dependent on your setup. After shaft removal, prop removal becomes considerably more friendly in a vise , imo.
However, i believe if strut is compromised from a few mere pounds on prop, you have other issues.
Of course we may have different interpretations of tapping and pounding with different sizes of those implements.
Make sure your shaft is not bent .

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by thruska

I agree, any tapping ok but pounding on prop could lead to story of damage to trans housing, dependent on your setup. After shaft removal, prop removal becomes considerably more friendly in a vise , imo.
However, i believe if strut is compromised from a few mere pounds on prop, you have other issues.
Of course we may have different interpretations of tapping and pounding with different sizes of those implements.
Make sure your shaft is not bent .

If you have clearance ahead of the strut & you succeed in removing the shaft, you might consider using a 2 leg, or even a 3 leg puller and a piece of solid round stock to push the bearing right on through??? If this sounds possible, first, drill a 'dimple' in the centre of the stock to prevent the puller pintle from 'walking' off center.

[Cheechako]

I'm guessing you had a prop problem throwing everything out of balance and eating the cutlass up to the extent to where it fell out...? One wonders if the set screw wasn't given a divot to seat into? But I just dont see how a cutlass bearing disappears completely... even the husk should be rattling there with the prop to stop it from coming completely off... Maybe it was not a brass based cutlass bearing and plastic...?
Many boats the shaft wont come out easy due to the rudder. It shouldn't be hard to slide the new cutlass on over the shaft and drive carefully into place with a pipe.

[Sailorbob8599]

Hi there Bowser, how did you make out? Don't leave us hanging & wondering how it all went. You asked, we responded. T'would be nice to know if any of our suggestions worked for you.

[Bowserbc]

Good news update. I mounted a bracket and put on a very thirsty two cycle evinrude and set off 70 km for Nanaimo. Made it easily. Boat out and the fun began. Thanks to everyone’s advice I knew what to expect. The two blade folding prop was totally worn out the pins caused one blade to only partially open putting the prop out of balance and wrecking the strut bearing. The bearing came out after some work with a press. We took the rudder off unbolted the shaft and out it came. The shaft after a clean up was perfect. We pressed a new bearing in with a giant c clamp. It took awhile but went perfectly. In goes the shaft and all bolted up. Yes I checked the engine alignment and repacked the stuffing box. Put the rudder back on and cleaned up the mess. Ready for our holiday. Learned and accomplished a lot. Thank you all for your help and positive advice. I have learned so much reading this forum. Would love to meet some of you. If you are ever on Vancouver island at Deep Bay marina look for Breeze. We’ll go sailing. Robert

[Sailorbob8599]

Congrats on a successful repair job Robert; I presume you installed the Campbell Sailer prop. An excellent prop it is too. I have one on my boat & it works very well for me. Very good power in reverse mode also, which is what many sailboats lack. Happy sailing. Bob T.