cutless bearing

[Jim Hardesty]

I bought Shamrock at the tender age of 5 years.  Still had a tag on the stuffing box to check shaft alignment at commissioning.  Don't think this was done.  Was off a fair bit.  I aligned it the first season.  A couple seasons later changed the cutless bearing and repacked the shaft log.  The cutless bearing wasn't real bad.  May be was just short of 1/16 play.  I'm sure this was due to the previous misalignment.   A friend had just made up a puller and I couldn't resist the loan offer.
So, I think that the factory plans for the dealer to do the final alignment.  Doubt that all dealers would have a good man spend 2-4 hours checking for a problem that wouldn't show up till many seasons later.
Jim

[Fred Koehlmann]

I'm curious as to what is consided too much play of the shaft in the cutlass bearing? Also I assume this is with respect to side to side play and not for to aft.

The reason I ask is because the marina, in an effort to be proactive (and probably looking for work) have along with the spring launch check list, indicated that my cutlass bearing and strut need work. Of course they didn't elaborate, so I'll be checking back with them to find out what they mean. However from what I remember in putting Dolphina (MkII) away for the winter, it all seemed tight at that time.

I plan to head up to the boat this weekend and I'll see for sure what the situation is then.

Cory: Did I read that you replaced yours? Did you have a puller that you used?

Cheers, Fred.

[Jim Hardesty]

Fred,
Should be no movement at all fore/aft.  Because the shaft if bolted to the transmission.  To check the cutless bearing play you need to grab the prop and give it a bit of a hard push/pull side to side then up and down.  A little movement may be OK but it should not rattle.  Putting a number on it maybe 1/32" is OK, you may get away with more if you don't use your boat a lot in a season. Then plan on replacing next lay up.   
Remember the cutless bearing on a good aligned shaft will last a long time.  If it's getting sloppy plan to replace it.
Jim

[tonywright]

I bought Shamrock at the tender age of 5 years.  Still had a tag on the stuffing box to check shaft alignment at commissioning.  Don't think this was done.  Was off a fair bit.  I aligned it the first season.  Jim

Amazing: most 5 year-olds wouldn't be up to this task.  

Seriously, I knew that there was too much play in the cutless bearing when I saw this on the pre-purchase inspection. This boat needed a new cutless bearing and shaft (it was scored from contact with the metal part of the bearing). Since everything around it (shaft, strut, propellor) was slathered in antifouling paint, I suspect that the paint may have blocked any water from freely flowing through the grooves to cool the bearing. This was after only 42 hours on the engine. I replaced the bronze shaft with a new factory stainless. The new cutless bearing is still tight 6 years later.

[Ron Hill]

Tony : WOW  You correctly named that picture -  What Cutless Bearing?