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Old 13-04-2014, 13:51   #1
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how to take prop shaft

I have reason to believe my prop shaft might be bent, although it might not be. I would love to take the shaft out and check it out. Is there any way to take it out without having to take the rudder off? The boat is on the hard, and I have already detached the shaft from engine, but i assume the strut will hold the shaft in such a way so that it will hit the rudder before it i can pull it out all the way. If I could loosen the strut so that i could turn the shaft to one side of the rudder, that would work. But how to loosen the strut? It appears the strut is glassed into the hull. Any ideas?

2002 Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35.

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Old 13-04-2014, 14:16   #2
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Re: how to take prop shaft

I just removed the shaft from our Pearson 31 without removing the rudder or the strut. In this case, removal of the cutlass bearing provides enough wiggle room to slide the shaft past the rudder. Your marina's mechanic probably has a "strut pro", a gadget that allows removal of the cutlass with the prop in place.
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Old 13-04-2014, 14:31   #3
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Re: how to take prop shaft

If you look from the stern, you will probably see the prop is off-set. Otherwise, the shaft will be short enough to permit its removal. you probably need to remove the prop.

If you have vibration, try using a dial indicator to see if it rotates eccentrically. Unless you hit something, I suggest your real problem is a worn Cutlass Brg. Ours was a wreck & the prop vibrated severely. We also found the prop shaft worn undersize. This required a spray weld build up and re-machining to size.
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Old 13-04-2014, 14:51   #4
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Re: how to take prop shaft

Based only on an online photo of a 35 ashore I'd say there's a good chance of drawing the shaft with the rudder in place, especially if the prop is off the shaft.

Looks like 500-600mm between strut and forward edge of rudder - shaft looks like 25-30mm. dia. - you may not need to pull the bearing from the P bracket if the forward end of the shaft is out of the boat before the shaft reaches the rudder. Looks like a long shaft, vibration may be due to worn cutless bearing.

This is where I found the photo:

Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35 - Red Ensign
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Old 14-04-2014, 10:04   #5
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Re: how to take prop shaft

Thanks for the great suggestions! I never thought of taking the cutlass bearing out, although I would rather not as it is in good shape and might be costly. I just bought this boat and don’t know if there is going to be much vibration or not. My concern is that the area around the strut seems to have gone though some trauma where it was pushed up into the boat (See pictures, I know hard to see). The cracks above where the top of the strut seems to be glassed over, were much bigger (maybe an inch or 2), until I pushed the wood frame back into place. It kind of looks like the link that “bornyesterday” had posted above. Instead of removing the cutlass bearing, is there a way to loosen the whole strut? Or is the only way to do that, by chopping into the fiberglass that hides the bolts?



The white things in the center of the pictures is the fiberglass that covers the top of the strut.
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Old 14-04-2014, 15:34   #6
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Re: how to take prop shaft

You, sir, have been holding our on us.

Sounds like there is more to this than routine. If the strut is wobbly or otherwise out of position, you probably have no choice but to expose the bolts and remove any damaged glass and do a proper repair. If you can keep track of undamaged surfaces so you can easily put the strut back in its correct position - that will help. You may need to indicate the shaft & coupling into position. If the strut is loose, could easily give you vibrations & risk a serious leak.
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Old 14-04-2014, 15:54   #7
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Re: how to take prop shaft

I owned a trawler that had a hole in the rudder. The shaft : passed right through the hole
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Old 14-04-2014, 16:03   #8
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Re: how to take prop shaft

"how to take the prop shaft"

First, make sure nobody is in the boat. A quick hello and a knock would work. Go inside and disconnect the shaft coupling. Loosen the packing gland nut. Remove shaft coupling and slide that bad boy right out.

Look at that, you can take the prop too, in one convenient package!

Might as well grab some stuff from inside the boat too. No sense in making the return trip with a less than full tender of booty and loot!

Whoops. Wrong thread.
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Old 14-04-2014, 16:03   #9
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Re: how to take prop shaft

Guessing a rear lifting sling on the prop shaft could have done that.
If you didn't bump it yourself I'd hope you could claim from the yard who did - or the surveyor who missed it if it was there pre-purchase?
I'd be interested to know what happened if you felt like sharing...

edit: if it was mine and I believed the yard's sling caused the damage I'd want to resolve that with them immediately. With witnesses. Not unknown for yards to refuse to accept liability for their own negligence.
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Old 14-04-2014, 16:24   #10
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I created a cut less bearing remover from some all thread and a bearing remover from Harbor Freight. I pulled the shaft and prop, then used double nuts backed against each other and various washers up to just less than the shaft tube inside diameter. On the outside I put the bearing tool screwed on the all thread and propped up against some two by fours on edge. I also put double nuts outside I then used a box wrench with a pipe for leverage to pull the bearing out.
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Old 15-04-2014, 06:43   #11
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Re: how to take prop shaft out

I have the same suspicion as*bornyesterday*that this happened when the boat was on the sling being taken out of the water.* Which is why I suspect the shaft might be bent.* The surveyor did highlight this issue in his survey.* The boat did sail through a tropical storm (or so he says) and definitely did some offshore cruising, so I think the other possibility is that this was caused by the natural flexing of the hull that you get from a light displacement boat on large ocean waves.

So it seems that the only way to do this is to take the cutlass bearing out.* I’m just debating with myself if this is all worth it, given that I don’t even know if shaft is bent or not. When I spin the shaft with my hand* while its disconnected from the engine, I am not noticing any wobbliness.*

Thanks for all your input.
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Old 15-04-2014, 08:19   #12
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Re: how to take prop shaft

I agree with Nicholson58's recommendation to check the shaft's straightness with a dial gauge. Difficult to mount a gauge rigidly enough in/on a boat so I'd pull the shaft and have a machine shop check it on a lathe.

Jeanneau will have used jigs to align everything but the only diy option I see is to use the (now proven straight) shaft to align the P bracket.

Crucial to get it right first time so I'd have the machine shop turn a metal bush to replace the cutless bearing during alignment of the bracket.

The actual re-glassing/reinforcement shouldn't be a problem unless the damage extends further than is so far apparent - rudder being a spade without skeg and not very far away.

I'm just an old worrier though
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Old 15-04-2014, 08:38   #13
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Re: how to take prop shaft

If the shaft is bend it can be straighten. So don’t let them tell you a new shaft is needed. Had the Eagle shaft, 11 ft long 2 12” dia, straighten by a local machine shop for 75 bucks with in an hour.
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Old 15-04-2014, 12:08   #14
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Re: how to take prop shaft

Thanks. I was wondering how much that would cost.
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