Need help with stuffing box equipment

[masonc]

My CheoyLee has an interesting stuffing box setup. It looks like there is a hose carry grease to the shaft tube but I can't understand how to get grease into the shaft in sufficient quantities. On my last sail, we motored for four hours and as we were navigating the reefs to get into the mooring, I heard some vibration but couldn't stop as we were in heavy swell, reefs and fishpots. It was dark so I waited until the next day to inspect. After we moored up, I found a smell of burning rubber in the engine compartment. I think the stuffing box got hot.
How does one get the grease into the attachment in the second photo so it packs the tube?

Stuffing Box, on Flickr

[IMG]Grease Niple , on Flickr[/IMG]

[Marc1]

Interesting set up. You have two points to grease, one is an old fashion cup that you fill by hand and screw on. That will deliver a small amount of grease. Then you have a greasing tip that is rather rusty and needs replacing. From there you can use a grease pump and deliver more grease at higher pressure.
Interesting to me because I have the same exactly stuffing box but no greasing point at all. The packing is supposed to be cooled by the water that ingres the tube and stops at the packing under the nut. The grease would create a seal of sort and make the packing run dry ... (?) Unless the grease is required for a bronze bush ?

[masonc]

There's no Zerk fitting for a grease gun, I'm going to fit one. That Tee is only used as a coupler, and it's stell. I'm going to find a brass Tee and a Zerk.
My understand is that the grease replaces the water and prevents crevice corrosion. I think it would require pumping in a lot of grease. I've got an air driven grease gun, I'm going to fit a Zerk on that Tee and pump it in until the grease comes out the cutlass bearing. Then I'll loosen the shaft seal and see what comes out the front.

[Marc1]

It will be a job to change the packing in that seal, with hardly enough clearance to move the seal forward. Mine is worse with the coupling way too close, the result of retrofitting a flexible coupling and bringing the flange further back.

[masonc]

Originally Posted by Marc1

It will be a job to change the packing in that seal,

If I can pump grease into it, it may be OK until we haul. Then I can always let the shaft go.

[roland stockham]

There may be some water intakes on the outboard end that push water into the shaft tube. Have there become blocked by shell fouling?

[jewt]

Had a similar set up on my 4th boat, a CL-36 Clipper/Ketch but it had a grease zert fitting to make it possible to pump grease into it with a grease gun. Of course it took half a day just to get into the locker to gain access to the fitting.

jewt

[Lepke]

Older stuffing boxes have a grease spot just on the water side of the packing to help lube the packing. The grease is held in place by the water pressure. And it needs to be waterproof grease.
By the position of the hose, I'd guess it's to ensure water flow to the bearing. My mains are setup this way. Some of the salt water cooling is diverted before entering the exhaust stream. Another way is a cup on the hull that forward motion forces water into the bearing front.

[masonc]

I rebuilt the whole grease setup, greased the hell out of it. I removed the transmission coupling, slid the gland nut over the end of the shaft and removed the old packing, cleaned it up, repacked it with new material. There was no grease at the gland nut. I thin the whole grease thing is a bust, a waste of time.
After rebuilding, we left the mooring and ran a test voyage for a few minutes at 60% throttle. The gland is very cool.
[IMG]IR000136 by Chris Mason, on Flickr[/IMG]

[MoorOrLess]

Have seen that grease cap setup on the irrigation pump bearings on the farm. Not seen on stern tube before. Is there a cutlass bearing services by that grease? It looks like it has been wound down a fair bit, probably empty. Unscrew the cap, pack the grease in and screw back on. As you turn the cap the grease is pushed down the tube. We would turn the the cap half a turn each morning before starting up the pump, it would run all day.
Your bilge looks dry, does water drip from the stuffing box normally.... it should drip slowly while the shaft is turning.

[masonc]

Originally Posted by MoorOrLess

It looks like it has been wound down a fair bit, probably empty. Unscrew the cap, pack the grease in and screw back on. As you turn the cap the grease is pushed down the tube.

Your bilge looks dry, does water drip from the stuffing box normally.... it should drip slowly while the shaft is turning.

There was no drip. The grease cap was empty, grease was dry.
I changed the Tee for a brass one and put in a Zerk fitting and lceaned the cap. We pumped in two tubes of grease. I don't know that it did anything, I did not find grease in the gland so I don't know where it went, will examine next time I haul.
We took the shaft off the transmission and pushed it back, pulled the gland nut off and took it ashore, took out the old packing, cleaned up the threads and exterior. reinstalled everything and tested, see image above.
It's dripping constantly, quite rapidly, nothing the bilge pump can't handle.
I left it like that to make sure the packing material got well saturated and will tighten it after a few hours of motoring when the packing material beds in.

[Marc1]

We took the shaft off the transmission and pushed it back, pulled the gland nut off and took it ashore, took out the old packing, cleaned up the threads and exterior. reinstalled everything and tested, see image above.

Did you take the gland nut whilst in the water? No water ingress? i bet the tubes of grease you pumped in there act as a seal of sort?

[masonc]

Originally Posted by Marc1

Did you take the gland nut whilst in the water? No water ingress? i bet the tubes of grease you pumped in there act as a seal of sort?

There was some water running in but not very much, we slid the shaft back and took off the nut, took it ashore soo we could clean it properly on the workbench, the amount coming in didn't worry me. I don't know what the grease did, will dismantled next time I haul. I left it loose so it dripped a lot and by the end of next trip it was not dripping much, I think the packing expanded once wet.