Greasel Lubricated Propeller Shaft System question

[sailscubasurf]

Hello,

I just purchased a 10 meter steel motor boat in the Netherlands. It has a Peugeot Indenor 62 hp diesel with a closed cooling system.

It also has a grease lubricated propeller shaft system that looks like a grease gun with a threaded plunger rather than a pump handle and a tube carrying the grease back to the propeller shaft on the bottom.

My question is this:

When I unscrewed the the top of the grease tube, the grease was packed on top of the plunger and the plunger seems to operate in reverse (the plunger was attached to the bottom of the tube by a spring).

Since the tube for carrying the grease to the shaft is below the plunger, I'm concerned that no grease is getting to the propeller shaft.

Does anyone else have this set up? What am I missing?

[tkeithlu]

I'm trying to picture this, and a picture would help.

Is it possible that the greaser is simply low on grease, such that the plunger is above the tube that carries grease to the bearing? If you filled it with grease, would it then deliver grease to the bearing?

Alternatively, is it possible that someone installed the plunger and spring upside down? If you reversed the two, would it then deliver grease to the shaft?

I like that theory. This thing isn't rocket science. It's a grease gun constantly delivering small amounts of grease to the shaft under spring pressure, with the spring adjustable by the screw. Don't over-tighten the spring - it takes only a little pressure to keep the bearing sweet.

[skipperpete]

Is the greaser this type?, if so, it screws off from the bottom and is filled from the bottom. If the piston leaks, the grease gets to the top side of the cylinder.... its not unusual for the grease line to get blocked and cause the grease to migrate to the wrong side of the piston.

[nuku34]

Without actually seeing the grease "pump" it is difficult to tell what is actually going on. The OP states that the outlet of the fitting is at the bottom which suggests that the piston would have grease below it and that the screw handle on top forces the piston down against the grease ad forces the grease out the tube to the stern gland. In some systems like this, the spring is above and it applies a constant pressure to the piston and a constant flow of grease to the stern gland. This is a typical old style setup. The problem is remembering to screw in the handle and checking on the amount of grease left in the pump.
A better solution (other than going to a modern "dripless" style stern gland), is to fit an oil tank above the waterline that feeds oil into the stern gland by gravity pressure. See my thread for the general idea. Although my system involves an oil filled stern tube, the oil tank idea might work for you and your old style "packing" type stern gland..

https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ps-242783.html