Prop and cutless bearing

[Patches]

I'm hauled out right now and intending to do paint the prop (Pettit Barnacle Barrier) and replace the cutless bearing.  A couple of questions:

1.  Prop is off, and was secured with a bronze (?) castellated nut and cotter pin.  Is it normal to re-use these nuts but with a new cotter pin?

If so, how do you line up the hole in the nut and shaft for the new cotter pin?  Or would it be preferable to replace with a two nut (locking) system?

2.  Finally able to eyeball my strut and cutless bearing.  I appear to have two set screws in the strut, one on each side.  For the life of me, with readers on, I was unable to tell what kind of screws these are.  Are the typically allen head screws?  If so, they look pretty worn.  Anyone try to source these for replacements? 

Anyone just press the new bearing in and forget about the set screws?

Thanks in advance.  This is all new stuff to me!

Patches

[Ron Hill]

Patches :
1. I always use a new cotter pin.

2. Just tighten the castellated nut until it aligns with the hole in the shaft.  I usually tap the prop with a mallet to make sure it's in all the way.

3. If you do not remove those two set screws you will never get the old cultess out!! The ste screws should be Allen hex head set screws and they hold the cutless in place rather than a compression fit like most other C34s. 
Just remove the set screws and you should be able to slide the old cutless out and then slide the new cutless in.

A few thoughts

[KWKloeber]

Patches they should be hex head setscrews but as everything marine -- who knows what someone else did.

This may help you on replacing the prop
https://marinehowto.com/lap-fitting-a-propeller/

You don't need to reinstall the setscrews, or at least not drive them down on the new bearing -- it ain't moving once it's pressed in.  Any decent hardware store has setscrews - you just need something to fill the holes if you want to. 

[Ron Hill]

Patches : You mentioned that the set screws were one on each side. 

You might want to really recheck because all of the struts with set screws that I've seen have 2 set screws on one side - not both! 
That doesn't mean your finding is wrong, just take all of the paint off the strut to make sure all set screw heads are exposed!!   

On the struts with set screws that I've see the strut hole is a larger size so that the cutless just slides in and the set screws are necessary to keep the bearing in place. 
You just need to check that it not needs to be pressed in like a compression bearing strut. The Bearing is the same size. 

A thought

[Noah]

BOTH my old original (1990) strut and my new strut (Oct. 2018) each had two set screws located on the same side AND both required the bearing to be pressed in and out after the two set screws were removed.

[Jon W]

Are the set screws to keep the bearing from rotating?

[Patches]

Thanks to all for the prompt responses.

I indeed have a set screw on each side, and removed them today.  I will reinsert these after I press the new bearing in--just in case.

Thanks also for the feedback on the castellated nut  I guess I'll try to reuse it with a new cotter pin. Note:  the cotter pin I removed is stainless.  Should I be looking for a bronze cotter pin?

Patches

[Ron Hill]

patches : I always used a Stainless Cotter pin.

a thought

[Patches]

Another successful cutless bearing replacement with Dan's (Indian Wells) loaner tool.

The work was pretty straightforward.  Dan's tool differs from a Strut-Pro in that it pushes the cutless bearings in only only direction.  It pushes the old bearing onto the shaft forward of the strut, which you then have to cut off.

I used channel lock pliers to hold the old cutless bearing with one hand.  I then used a Dremel EZ Lock metal cutting disc in me other hand to carefully cut the outer brass casing lengthwise.  The Dremel made it very easy to make a very precise cut and to even stop short of cutting through the rubber bearing surface underneath.

Once I cut through one side, I rotated the bearing 180 degrees and made an identical second cut.  Then I inserted a large flat head screwdriver tip and twisted the two sides apart.  This served to tear the remaining rubber on one side of the bearing.  I then forced the bearing open far enough to slip it off the prop shaft in one piece.

An unintended benefit of bisecting the old bearing this way is that I now have two "halves" of the old bearing which should come in handy when inserting new rings of GFO packing into the packing nut on the stuffing box.

When re-installing the prop, I "lapped" it per Mainesail's excellent guide on his "marine how to" site.  I found both Prussian Blue and Permatex Valve Grinding compound at my local NAPA dealer.  I also decided to try Pettit's Barnacle Barrier spray-on zinc product on the prop, strut and shaft.  Thought I would give it a try here in the PNW after mostly positive reviews.

If anyone needs Dan's tool, please contact me and it is yours to use for the cost of shipping.  Big shout out to Dan for his generous loaning of the tool.  No need to remove the shaft (or rudder) to replace the cutless bearing.

Patches