Dealing with alignment on an S2 9.2A

[BobM]

Whew...put in a solid 8 hours today on Triple Play. In my last post, the diesel mechanic had refused to work on it until I had the cutlass bearing replaced.I started out by placing an absorbent sheet under the transmission coupling. I then hosed the thing down with PB Blaster as well as hitting the stuffing box. I then climbed down and hit the propeller nuts and the allen screws in the skeg. After about 30 minutes I tried to remove the set bolts from the hub of the coupling. They surprised me by coming out fairly easily, given the extreme amount of rust present. I then sprayed more PB Blaster in the holes in the hub left behind by the bolts. I was unsuccessful in tackling the quite corroded stuffing box using an adjustable sink wrench and a pipe wrench...in fact I broke the sink wrench. Off to Lowe's for more ammunition.I returned from Lowe's with a couple of big adjustable wrenches and another pipe wrench. I had also recalled that I had a newfangled self adjusting pipe wrench in my tool box. I tried that wrench with a pipe wrench and was able to loosen the stuffing box nut. I then climbed down to give myself a rest from confined spaces and tried my hand a propeller removal. I must say, I tried four different pullers and couldn't get the darn thing off. Neither PB blaster nor the judicious application of a propane torch helped at all. Back up in the engine room, I easily removed all four coupling bolts. The suspicions about the alignment were wholly confirmed as the couplings were now over a half inch off upon separation. I had to raise the engine to line them up roughly for the next step. My plan was to follow Don Casey's advice and use the coupling to press out the shaft. Hmmm...one problem...the shaft key sticks out about an inch beyond the back of the coupling...and only a quarter of an inch beyond it is the stuffing box nut I just loosened up. If this is the original set-up, how the HECK did S2/Tiara every expect anyone to service the stuffing box? Anyone else deal with this? The only thing I could think to do was to sacrifice the stuffing box, which after I cut the tubing with my 18V sawzall, provided the room I will need to get the shaft out. The tube was pretty borderline anyway.I then realized that I was lacking the longer bolts that I would need to fit a socket between the coupling halves to press the shaft out. I did, however have a couple of smaller diameter long bolts, so I tried those. I also tried heat and more PB Blaster, but then I ran out of time and had to pack it in. In hindsight, I had joked with my friends that if I could avoid a mechanic it would be a wash if I even had to cut the shaft to get it all apart and then pay for all new parts. Now that I face at least another full day of disassembly that idea, in hindsight, really had some merit. Assuming that my sawzall would have made easy work of the hardened prop shaft. I could have had the whole thing apart in four hours and then ordered everything except the prop new for under $500 (assuming $250 for the shaft, $50 for the coupling, $100 for a stuffing box plus S&H). Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20. Of course, to understand my thought process, you need to know my situation, which is that time is more important that money at the moment. Especially since it is 4 hours driving in a Tundra each weekend to do the work.Question. I am assuming I can get the shaft out without removing the rudder on the 9.2A. Can anyone confirm? What about with a 2 blade prop still attached? Fortunately the shaft seems to be undamaged by the alignment issue. This suggests that it perhaps wasn't that bad when it was in the water. The alignment was really awful on land. The stuffing box tube was dramatically distorted to port and upwards. Darn, I forgot to check the play in the cutless bearing to see if it really needs replacing. Oh well, I am almost certain it does. I will be back at it next weekend armed with more propane and longer bolts of the correct size. Perhaps I will even spring for the coupling puller I saw online for $30. It will certainly be worth the money if I can get it in time for next weekend.BobM

 

[BobM]

Potential short cut (pun intended)

I might take a short cut (pun intended) and jump ahead tocutless bearing removal. Time iss of the essence and I am one cutwith my 18V sawzall away from having my shaft finally out of myboat. I found a great website http://www.deepblueyachtsupply.com/and they confirmed that they can turn around a new shaft in about aweek. I need the overall length, but if it is an untapered 1 inchshaft and about 48 inches, it will be about $180. Throw in a newstuffing box ($62), coupling ($75) and cutless bearing ($30) and Iwil be all new from the tranny back for $350 + S&H. If I do it, thenit will be only a day to put it back together and ball park myalignment then SPLASH (finally). So if I cut first on my next $60trip (gas for 4 hours round trip in my pickup) and ask questionslater I can focus on the other repair, which is installing a newbilge pump switch and hose, and even perhaps my new second bilge pumpand bilge filter. At most, I figure I'll give it one more hour, butif I can't press the shaft out or pull the prop (neither would comeout last time), I am definitely going for major surgery and thenbuying new. At this point I only wish I had called deep blueearlier...I had just tripped across the site last week...because atthose prices I would have definitely cut the darn thing last Sundayand saved myself time and money. I did pretty good at avoidingfrustration...but if I am not in the water in CT by July 4th it willbe August by the time I get her home and I am fast running low onpatience in that department.So am I nuts or for $350 versus another 8+ hours of struggling and the loss of maybe another week of the season would you all fire up the sawzall too?BobM

 

[BobM]

Update

Took a pass on the short cut after trying to drill an index hole in the end of the shaft for the prop puller. Two carbide bits had difficulty making headway, so I figured that made cutting the shaft a last resort, which would require some heavy duty equipment.The good news is that I succeeded it pressing out the shaft, but not in getting the darn prop off. That thing is on there! The better news is that, once I had the shaft pressed out I was able to just squeak the two blade prop past the rudder without having to drop it. Whew...I couldn't see it, but the shaft key could have been driven forward into the coupling. Could have, but I doubt it. As it was, I ended up having to drill into it to split into halves before removal. Oh well...next time I'll know...but I'll take a pass on the next time for a while!Now I just need to order the parts and get the prop off.BobM

 

[BobM]

Update to the update

Well everything is done, she's in the water and we sail for Boston Friday. Had a mechanic look at it today after another mechanic blew me off for three weeks running. I replaced the coupling, stuffing box hose, stuffing and cutless bearing and had the shaft and prop cleaned and balanced (~$350). I put everything back myself, ballparked the alignement and got stuck doing the final alignment myself with the help of a more experienced boater (thanks Mario!). The alignment work got a clean bill of health from the new mechanic from Milford Boatworks, which has a reputation of doing excellent work for a price...I get the bill tomorrow (gulp).

It was a heck of a lot of work when you tacked on the four hours round trip for 8 weekends to go from purchase to our first sail.

 

[BobM]

So much for paying a professional

Just got back from our three day trip. The only issued is that the "whistling" sound at low rpm sounds like a shaft alignment issue. Also, I definitely have to do something to improve the motor mounts. I am thinking about improving the cross bracing front an rear as it is really shaking the port mount at the forward end. There is a board across there, but it is essentially detached and doing nothing at the moment. I also think that I was correct in my initial assessment that I really need to raise the whole engine about a half inch then remount it lower on its mounts. Has anyone had to do something like this?

Bob