Location: The boat - New Bern, NC, USA; Us - Kingsport, TN, USA
Boat: 1988 Pacific Seacraft 34
Posts: 1,466
Re: Profurl bearings and seals
You might find these helpful, but once you have the unit apart any parts counter should be able to match the bearings and seals. They are nothing special. I got mine at Dixie Bearings.
I have done my lower unit (N31). If it were not for the corrosion and having to reach the circlips down the hole, it would have been easy. Take pictures as you take it apart. They will help when you put it back together.
I added grease nipples on both sides of the bearing.
I had problems with the upper seal on the drum unit leaking and leaving the bearing immersed in water which caused it to rust and seize, not sure whether I left the lower seal out or drilled drain holes but it has not happened since.
You might find these helpful, but once you have the unit apart any parts counter should be able to match the bearings and seals. They are nothing special. I got mine at Dixie Bearings.
I have done my lower unit (N31). If it were not for the corrosion and having to reach the circlips down the hole, it would have been easy. Take pictures as you take it apart. They will help when you put it back together.
I added grease nipples on both sides of the bearing.
I am having a tough time getting N31 back together. So far i have tried putting together the top housing.
For 52x40x7mm deep groove - NSK #6808 it seems 7mm is too thick. At least the groves on the outer housing where 52mm circlip is supposed to fit, those groves are only 5mm apart. So you cannot install both outer(52mm) circlips around the bearing. The inner housing groves are 7mm apart so you can install two 40mm circlips around the bearing.
i added red annotations to the photo. i dont think this photo applies to N31, at least not to the top housing. The other problems that picture shows is bottom circlips cannot co-exist. On my top housing of N31, they are in each others way. I tried shaving of some of the circlip material to try and make it fit, but 52mm40mm dimensions make for a very tight fit. Even the bearing is very small. had to shave too much and it permanently deformed the circlips.
The only way i can see this being possible is to try to offset them. From what I understand you need 3 bearings to keep the inner housing and outer housing from separating under load, but with the way the groves are, and 7mm bearing thickness, I don't see it happening. Unfortunately, original bearings and circlips were so rusty that they fall apart without having any chance to measure them
So these pics are for the upper end of N31. I got around my issue by eliminating one snap ring and the spacer.
So with 1 outer and 1 inner snap ring, female/male housings can be held in place without coming apart. The force acting on them is halyard tension that acts to separate them, not compress them.
In 3rd pic below male housing can accommodate both inner snap rings around the bearing. However female housing cannot. in 2nd pic, arrow points that the grove is covered by 7mm thick bearing even after i pressed the bearing all the way to the other snap ring.
So I ended up using outer snap ring (52mm) on the bottom side and inner snap ring (40mm) on the top side. I have not put the seal on the top yet.
Those metal balls can be easily pressed from inside. I used those holes to tap 1/4-28 thread and add the grease nipple. i may just put a hex plug on the bottom one. Not sure yet. Top nipple is positioned to inject grease just below the recess holding the seal. That should work.
While assembling the bottom drum, I eliminated 1 snap ring but ended up using the spacer to eliminate the play. Both male and female Housing recesses and groves a slightly different on the bottom drum.
Interesting timing of your post. I have 2 sets of rebuild kits in front of me that I purchased from Pacific Offshore Rigging(POR) in San Diego. They are for a Profurl NC42 but are suppose to work in my Profurl B35.
Wichard are the folks that have rebuild kits in the states. I think most rigging shops get their Profurl supplies from them. Friends gave up with PYI and went with POR.
Try contacting them for a special order. I think it took about a week for them to come into the shop. I picked mine up while back visiting famiiy at Thanksgiving.
You will need one set for the lower and one set for the swivel
From what I could see or read from folks that have tried, there are no kits to replace bearings and seals. Drums and swivels are sold as sealed unit and are $$$. Could you show a pics or at least provide a part number for the kit for NC42 that you bought.
I just did N31. I am in the process of doing LC42 more straight forward than N31, and is similar to NC42.
Attached is a part number diagram for replacement parts for your unit.
that's definitely new info, thank you. That part number is not on any of the listed part number diagrams, I'll give them a shout. Although looking at how these guys went about designing this, i am not impressed with profurl. Im stuck with it tho. Adding grease nipples and sealed stainless bearings as well as stainless snap rings would be an improvement. I'd rather get that instead of whats in the kit. I got the 42LC apart last night. Its definitely designed different than N31. There is a recess instead of a grove, in female housing to hold the bearing as opposed to snap ring. exactly as the original pic shows.
that's definitely new info, thank you. That part number is not on any of the listed part number diagrams, I'll give them a shout. Although looking at how these guys went about designing this, i am not impressed with profurl. Im stuck with it tho. Adding grease nipples and sealed stainless bearings as well as stainless snap rings would be an improvement. I'd rather get that instead of whats in the kit. I got the 42LC apart last night. Its definitely designed different than N31. There is a recess instead of a grove, in female housing to hold the bearing as opposed to snap ring. exactly as the original pic shows.
Hope this info helps you out. The guys at POR did show me a snap ring tool that they modified with a 1" pin attached to the end that was bent slightly. They used this to get one of the clips in and out.
For what ever its worth we installed our Profurl in the early 90's in NZ and it has maybe 20,000+ miles on it. It does not leak and still works great. Its just after 25+ years of cruising I want to replace it when I replace the headstay. What kind of maintenance did we do to the unit since installation? Zero
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