Cutless Bearing Replacement

[Parrot Adventure]

As a follow up to my previous message here in replacing the cutless bearing in our 1981 aft cabin 36, here are some additional photos detailing how I actually removed the bearing from the bearing housing. First, I placed the housing inside a cinder block, so the two mounting "ears" were supported by the cinder block, and placed wood under the ears so as not to damage the face of the ears in the process of attempting to drive out the bearing from the housing. I heated the housing with a propane torch until it was hot to the touch, and then very carefully used a cold chisel and 3 pound maul to attempt to drive out the bearing. I say attempt because the efforts were fruitless. In the process of heating the housing, the rubber sleeve inside the housing became delaminated so I was able to remove the rubber insert from the bearing sleeve. I didn't have access to a press or wasn't able to design a cutless bearing "puller" of 3/4" threaded rod as I read about on the Internet, so I next turned to using a fine blade, variable speed Sawzall to very carefully score the inside of the bearing walls in the hopes I could then drive the sleeve out of the housing. Again, I hammered on the forward (threaded) end of the housing, ever to careful so as not to nick the threads! I sprayed a liberal dose of PB Blaster between the bearing sleeve and the housing, and let it sit a while. I then heated the housing with the torch, and I could see the PB Blaster microscopically "bubbling out" between the sleeve and the housing on the non-threaded end, which made me think at least there is hope. After more heating and pounding, the cutless bearing sleeve finally dislodged, and I was able to drive the sleeve out of the housing, but was it a job! In the process of hammering and using the Sawzall to remove the sleeve, I did manage to nick the inside face of the housing. I then purchased a cylinder hone to very lightly debur the inside face of the housing in the hopes the replacement cutless bearing would be able to be driven back into the housing. The fit was very very tight, so I decided to freeze the cutless bearing for a day, and then heat the bearing housing in boiling water for 20 minutes before attempting to reinsert the new bearing. In the process, I also applied a liberal coat of Dawn dishwasher liquid inside the housing to help facilitate sliding the bearing back in. After heating the housing in boiling water for 20 minutes, I very quickly slid the new cutless bearing into the housing. The fit was tight, and I had to use a block of wood and the maul to drive the bearing in. I deliberately left about 1/8" of the bearing out of the housing for the next time this needs to be done. On either side of the housing, there are two FLAT HEAD set screws which are designed to hold the cutless bearing in place. After 16+ years of not being removed, I attempted to remove the set screws, and merely stripped the heads. So, I drilled the set screws out, retapped them with 1/4-20 threads, and installed bronze hex head bolts to serve as the set screws. I have attempted to provide photos of these efforts. Thanks, Mark

[Parrot Adventure]

Finally, I installed the cutless bearing housing containing the new cutless bearing housing back onto the boat. The process was relatively simple, and I applied a very liberal coating of MARINE anti-seize lubricant to the threads of the bronze cutless bearing housing as well as the shaft tube when I reattached the housing to the tube. When I removed the housing, the threads were dry, with no indication of anti-seize being applied the last time this was removed, if ever. My boat receipts indicate the cutless bearing AND shaft were replaced in Baltimore Maryland during 2000. I am surprised the cutless bearing lasted for 16 years, and I don't have any other reason or evidence to indicate it had been replaced since that time. I see a previous response from Captn_Dwt who similarly did this job a number of years ago indicating the threads on the studs may not be 1/2-3 threads as I thought previously. In the photos below, I craft tow replacement studs from 1/2-3 threaded rod (made of 316 stainless steel) to replace the two studs. Upon threading the new 1/2-3 studs into the blind receiving nuts embedded in the keel, I noted these 1/2-3 studs seemed to seat approximately 1/2" shorter than the original studs I removed and am replacing. I'm now wondering if these studs should be 12 mm or 13 mm metric studs? I was able to adequately torque the studs down nonetheless, and believe the combined torque of the threaded housing onto the shaft tube as well as the two, 1/2-3 studs should be far greater than the potential friction/torque between the propeller shaft and the new cutless bearing. Hopefully, this should do the trick. The reason I replaced the cutless bearing is because I noticed approximately 3/16" of play in the cutless bearing when we pulled the boat out about two weeks ago (Jan. 2016) for a bottom job. When we last had the boat pulled in 2013, I don't recall seeing any play in the cutless bearing. More to follow. We hope to launch this coming week (mid-Feb. 2016). Thanks, Mark

[jleonard]

Excellent write up, great pictures! Thanks for posting this.

[RobS]

Excellent write up, great pictures! Thanks for posting this.

I agree, excellent write up and thanks for sharing with the group.

Nothing beats a tailgate as the ultimate workbench because it has to be cleaned up when done and therefore always clear and ready for the next project, much unlike the workbench in my shop.

And I recognize that tailgate being on a Toyota Tacoma, great truck but not the toughest of tailgates, as I know too well
I noticed you set up your cement block hammering station off to the side, close to the cable, not at the center span

[jleonard]

[quote="RobSI noticed you set up your cement block hammering station off to the side, close to the cable, not at the center span [/quote]

I didn't notice that, but if the block were on solid ground it would take much less hammering to get it out.
I would never bang anything on my tailgate...being a Dodge its probably wimpier than the Toyota tailgate.

[BonumMan]

I'm about to start the same process on my 25' and appreciate your photos and methods. Thanks for sharing your experience. My housing seems very bonded to the keel and I'm nervous about breaking something when I try to break it loose from the shaft log.

Does anyone have any experience switching from metric to standard. The shaft that I am replacing in my repower is 30mm and the prop shop here is saying that I should switch to 1 1/4". Is the cutlass bearing housing metric as well? I'm guessing that it will be hard to find a metric OD to Standard ID Cutlass. They are recommending boring the cutlass housing to fit a standard 1 1/4" bearing. I will be switching the dripless seal as well. I am thinking of going to a PSS.

One strange thing about the current dripless packing seal is that it was mounted to the threaded shaft log directly and it appears sealant was used to deal with the threads leaking past the clamped hose.

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Ben

[Parrot Adventure]

Hi Ben, the cutless bearing work I did was on our pictured 1981 36-foot dual cabin Albin trawler, so I'm not sure about how the external housing was put together on your Albin 25. Also, I only worked on replacing our cutless bearing, and I plan to repack the stuffing box packing at a later date. I assume your boat is out of the water? Does your external cutless bearing housing have two bolts or studs which mount it to the keel? Further, if you removed those, have you tried removing any marine sealant between the housing and the keel? A little heat carefully applied to sealant will soften it and help make scraping it out easier. I initially tried prying off my housing, and quickly discovered it wasn't moving. Many thanks and kudos to the gentleman who initially posted the THREADED cutless bearing housing comments which initiated this subject. I applied a little heat, and little deadblow hammer strikes, and a 24" pipe wrench, and it backed off so smoothly. Again, I'm not sure about the arrangements on your Albin 25. Is there a similar cutless bearing discussion in that category of boats on this Albin Owners Group site? Certainly, you're not the first to have removed the housing from that model boat. Did you conduct an Internet search using the terms "threaded cutlass bearing housing" yet? The discussion and images are helpful. Please keep the group posted. Thanks, Mark

[psneeld]

I am assuming the treaded rod that holds the after cutless bearing is that british thread like the mast tabernacle bolts and the packing gland.

If I have to because the threaded rod is deteriorated badly or breaks....I may just epoxy in SAE threaded rod and the required embedded nuts. This time I might look for bronze rod/bolts

Of course the easy thing to do is keep my head in the sand and just replace the cutless in situ.