Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?

gfuller · Post by **gfuller** » Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:47 pm

So last year I had a slight mishap (soft grounding) and it got me paranoid about the straightness of my driveshaft. I clamped a dial indicator on (see below) and it looks like the variance is about 14 thousandths (if I'm reading this correctly from 0). Is that way out of spec? I thought I remembered something like .002 or 2 thousandths being what you want..... Let me know what you think... Measurements were taken post-cutlass, pre-taper.

Here is the reading (I set it to 0 at the lowest point)

Here's where I'm measuring from:

Post by **Norseman** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:24 am

No idea what the limits are, but you are on the hard, prop is off:
Why not pull the shaft and have a straight shaft installed.?
Did the same on my sailboat: Slight vibration, drove me nuts.
New shaft, re-balanced prop and new cutless bearing.
The result was super smooth and quiet running forever after.

gfuller · Post by **gfuller** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:43 am

Yea... I've decided to pull it. No reason to risk having a vibration that will drive me crazy and cause further damage to start the season off.

Post by **DougSea** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:05 pm

Good choice! Doesn’t take much vibration to be really annoying and potentially damaging.

Post by **RobS** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:19 am

Wasn't that a NEW shaft as you snapped the taper off the last one when out at sea?

gfuller · Post by **gfuller** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 9:05 am

RobS wrote: ↑Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:19 am Wasn't that a NEW shaft as you snapped the taper off the last one when out at sea?

Unfortunately... Yes.

I had it straightened as it was .060 off. He got it within .0005, $245 straightened, polished and coupler faced.

Post by **WillieC** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:16 pm

That was a bargain. Your persistence paid off.

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Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?

Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?

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Re: Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?

Re: Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?

Re: Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?

Re: Bent driveshaft.. how bent is too bent?