Prop shaft droops

[zboss]

Well, transmission and engine is all back together. When I tried an alignment I used a feeler gauge but the two pieces of the coupling were so perfectly aligned that I could not put anything between them on any of the four quadrants when I pulled the coupling together, even when I rotated the shaft. I moved the engine to meet the shaft, it turns out that the distance between the coupling and the end of the cutlass shaft is much shorter than 18" - maybe 14" or so including the packing gland.

I dropped a bolt and not into the bilge when attempting to install my Drive saver so I need to get a new bolt and add the drver saver later.

Its going to be a while (over a month) before we can take her out for a trial run to see how good the alignment really is but we did a brief test of the mooring and it looks/sounds good.

I'm in a little predicament because the size of the new transmission cooler connections are slightly larger than the old ones, but in-between 1" and 1-1/8" so the connection using a 1-1/8" hose is a little loose, which would not be a problem except that the piece f hose I got forms too short a bend and doesn't allow the hose to seat properly on the connection, so it leaks slightly.

So we have a very small leak around that hose until I can get some 1" hose ordered.

Why of why do companies put permanent nipples on their expensive devices...a threaded connection would suffice please and allow me to select my own connection size.

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by zboss

Well, transmission and engine is all back together. When I tried an alignment I used a feeler gauge but the two pieces of the coupling were so perfectly aligned that I could not put anything between them on any of the four quadrants when I pulled the coupling together, even when I rotated the shaft. I moved the engine to meet the shaft, it turns out that the distance between the coupling and the end of the cutlass shaft is much shorter than 18" - maybe 14" or so including the packing gland.

I dropped a bolt and not into the bilge when attempting to install my Drive saver so I need to get a new bolt and add the drver saver later.

Its going to be a while (over a month) before we can take her out for a trial run to see how good the alignment really is but we did a brief test of the mooring and it looks/sounds good.

I'm in a little predicament because the size of the new transmission cooler connections are slightly larger than the old ones, but in-between 1" and 1-1/8" so the connection using a 1-1/8" hose is a little loose, which would not be a problem except that the piece f hose I got forms too short a bend and doesn't allow the hose to seat properly on the connection, so it leaks slightly.

So we have a very small leak around that hose until I can get some 1" hose ordered.

Why of why do companies put permanent nipples on their expensive devices...a threaded connection would suffice please and allow me to select my own connection size.

Question: when you rotated the shaft, were the trans flange and the shaft flange rotated together or just one or the other before checking with the feeler gauge, it makes a difference.
Also was the engine bolted solidly in place, tight stringer and adjusting mount bolts.
This can also change shaft alignment. No wiggle in the packing gland at your dock test?
If so congratulations on the shaft to engine alignment.


Sent from my iPad SV Cloud Duster

[Cheechako]

Sounds like you got it right! Got to be a lot better than 1/4" off for sure...
Yeah, boat plumbing is the pits, nothing fits properly it seems. It takes more parts chasing time than actual doing time for boat plumbing...

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Boatyarddog

Question: when you rotated the shaft, were the trans flange and the shaft flange rotated together or just one or the other before checking with the feeler gauge, it makes a difference.
Also was the engine bolted solidly in place, tight stringer and adjusting mount bolts.
This can also change shaft alignment. No wiggle in the packing gland at your dock test?
If so congratulations on the shaft to engine alignment.


Sent from my iPad SV Cloud Duster

I rotated them together.

No wiggle in the packing.

Yes, the engine is securely bolted into place. In fact, I replaced all the mount to stringer nuts with new ones since I was in there. Used the original mount adjustment nuts since I didn't need new ones.

I'm not sure that the engine had ever been aligned - if so it was a long long time ago. We have only owned the boat since summer of 2013 and this wasn't something I knew to check to closely at the time.

I had to use CorossionX and direct heat from a small butane torch to loosen the nuts. It was amazing... I would heat the nut, squirt on a small amount of CorossionX, heat a bit more and you could see the CorossionX being pulled into the thread. Wait a minute or two and then use the wrench... the nuts would come right off.