Replacing cutless bearings

dtfeld

Water Contrails
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Jun 5, 2016
5,518
Milton, GA
Boat Info
410 Sundancer
2001
12" Axiom and 9" Axiom+ MFD
Engines
Cat 3126 V-Drives
I hauled out Tuesday to get a list of bottom projects done in the off season. One of those jobs was to get the props off and tuned and replace the cutless bearings. I had previously noticed that the shaft was hard to turn by hand, but there was no side to side or up-down play in the shaft at the bearing, nor any vibration which are the classic signs of needing new cutless bearings.

In prep for the job, I followed Strecker25's (thank you Ryan!!) lead as he had done this last year. He had purchased a Strut Pro set up for the combination of shaft/cutless bearing on the 410's (1-3/4" shaft, 2-3/8" OD bearing), and he was kind enough to lend me the tool. If your contemplating doing this job yourself, strut pro is the way to go!

First order of business was to get the Props off, and this was pretty simple as the Strut pro had an attachement to do just this thing. Installed the strut Pro, tightened it up and a good whack with a 5lb sledge and they were both off in about an hour.

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Next, I wanted to get the old bearings out. First I had to get the set screws loose which turned out to be the bitchy part of the job (I had to drill a couple of them out and chase the threads). On the first bearing, I didnt realize there were 2 set screws, but the Strut Pro pushed the old bearing out no problem. I got both set screws ofF the other and punched it out as well. All in, took about 6 hours to get both props off and both old bearings pulled.

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Had a nice sunset over the lake to reward my efforts.

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You in the yard at Aqualand? Thanks for posting this. The strut pro seems like the way to go.
 
Yesterday, I installed the new bearings, and Strut Pro made that really easy. The trick to this is to keep your bearing on ice to get them to contract just slightly and then using the Strut Pro to push them home. Having them chilled allowed the bearing to slide easily into the strut, and required so little force I could almost turn the Strut Pro by hand. The hardest part was all the strokes of the 3/4" ratchet to get these out and back in...its a lot a turning of a wrench!

2 new 1/4"-20 x 1/4 stainless set screws on each side and I am done!!

Shaft turns nice and smooth by hand.

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Awesome and glad you were able to get it to work. On my freshwater only boat, I couldn't get them off with strutpro. The marina had to end up pulling my strut and pressing the old cutlass bearing out on a press. Definitely a pita....but for those not frozen in place, strutpro is amazing.
 
This brings back memories from 2 years ago when I did mine. Agreed about the set screws, on my first one I didn't realize there were 2 until I got the bearing out and saw a nice shiny groove down one side of it.

I've offered this before but will again, anyone in the Seattle/Puget Sound area looking to do the same thing, you are welcome to borrow my StrutPro!
 
Awesome and glad you were able to get it to work. On my freshwater only boat, I couldn't get them off with strutpro. The marina had to end up pulling my strut and pressing the old cutlass bearing out on a press. Definitely a pita....but for those not frozen in place, strutpro is amazing.

I used a Sawzall and made sure the set screws were out... My strut pro was bought @ Home Depot for under $10 (homemade).
 
Well done @dtfeld! Happy to have lent the tool out. Njlarry made a good point I forgot to mention…I lapped the props when I got them back from Ray. They weren’t off by much but I did have to use a little valve grinding compound to get perfect mating of the two surfaces
 
Well done @dtfeld! Happy to have lent the tool out. Njlarry made a good point I forgot to mention…I lapped the props when I got them back from Ray. They weren’t off by much but I did have to use a little valve grinding compound to get perfect mating of the two surfaces

Props have been tight and running very well, so not sure how for off I am. Time permitting I may look at this.
 
Props have been tight and running very well, so not sure how for off I am. Time permitting I may look at this.

Seems like you’ve had a busy week:)

I figured there was a chance the bore got a little worked over depending on how they lock them down during repitch so I wanted to verify. Prussian blue is available at most auto zones and is really easy to smear on and check for fit. As I understand it, if they’re not lapped properly you can cause a premature fracture in the shaft from uneven pressure.
 
Seems like you’ve had a busy week:)

I figured there was a chance the bore got a little worked over depending on how they lock them down during repitch so I wanted to verify. Prussian blue is available at most auto zones and is really easy to smear on and check for fit. As I understand it, if they’re not lapped properly you can cause a premature fracture in the shaft from uneven pressure.

Then I think this is worth taking a look. Doesnt seem to take much more time to do it right.
 
Received my strut pro tool last week. Planning on tackling this job when the snow melts. I was wondering. Couldn't you use the new strut bearing to push out the old then cut the old one off of the shaft with a dremel cutter? naturally you have to make sure you don't cut in to the shaft but would save some time cranking down on the tool twice,
 
Received my strut pro tool last week. Planning on tackling this job when the snow melts. I was wondering. Couldn't you use the new strut bearing to push out the old then cut the old one off of the shaft with a dremel cutter? naturally you have to make sure you don't cut in to the shaft but would save some time cranking down on the tool twice,

I think your still going to have to unscrew it to allow room to insert the new one back in, and push/pull it into place. The cool will be at its shortest throw.
 
Seems like you’ve had a busy week:)

I figured there was a chance the bore got a little worked over depending on how they lock them down during repitch so I wanted to verify. Prussian blue is available at most auto zones and is really easy to smear on and check for fit. As I understand it, if they’re not lapped properly you can cause a premature fracture in the shaft from uneven pressure.
That and more importantly having the shaft key correctly located. Most shaft failures at the propeller are due to the key sliding up the shaft when installing the propeller.
 
I think your still going to have to unscrew it to allow room to insert the new one back in, and push/pull it into place. The cool will be at its shortest throw.
I'm not following. The way I'm thinking about it is to use the new bearing in place of the wedges supplied with the tool which is what actually pushes the bearing out. At this point the tool has done its job and is no longer needed.
 
That and more importantly having the shaft key correctly located. Most shaft failures at the propeller are due to the key sliding up the shaft when installing the propeller.
Not sure I'm following this either. This is all being done before the shaft key and props are reinstalled.
 

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