Need help with Cutlass bearing removel looks like it is fiberglassed in any suggestions also shaft coupling looks like a ball of rust ?
Cutlass bearing removel
- Thread starter Tinacity
- Start date
Some photos would help.
How does the shaft look? If the coupling is a rusted ball, you may not be able to get it off the shaft. That may mean cutting the shaft to get it all out.
But you need to make sure you can get a new shaft back In Without having to drop the rudder or raising the engine (unless you are prepared to do that).
Not familiar with your boat, so don’t know how the Cutlass is mounted. On my boat, an O’Day 322, the cutlass is in a strut. I had to press it out with a tool my bro-in-law made for me.
Here are some videos of my shaft removal and replacement project:
Strut bearing removal
Coupling removal
Shaft removal
Shaft installation
Post a pic of your cutlass bearing so we can see how/where it is mounted on your boat.
Greg
How does the shaft look? If the coupling is a rusted ball, you may not be able to get it off the shaft. That may mean cutting the shaft to get it all out.
But you need to make sure you can get a new shaft back In Without having to drop the rudder or raising the engine (unless you are prepared to do that).
Not familiar with your boat, so don’t know how the Cutlass is mounted. On my boat, an O’Day 322, the cutlass is in a strut. I had to press it out with a tool my bro-in-law made for me.
Here are some videos of my shaft removal and replacement project:
Post a pic of your cutlass bearing so we can see how/where it is mounted on your boat.
Greg
I just did both.. Good info above on the cutlas bearing. I had to pull my prop shaft anyway so I sent it to the shop and had some corrosion repairs done, got new coupling for transmission (oil seal replaced in the process) and for the shaft. Before and After, now on to Alignment. 
Let the fun begin.
Steve
Let the fun begin. Steve
Nice work!I just did both.. Good info above on the cutlas bearing. I had to pull my prop shaft anyway so I sent it to the shop and had some corrosion repairs done, got new coupling for transmission (oil seal replaced in the process) and for the shaft. Before and After, now on to Alignment.
Steve
View attachment 154470 View attachment 154471 View attachment 154472
Greg
Your Irwin 28 should have a prop strut with the bearing press fit into it. These bearings are supposed to fit very tightly, if the prop-strut was machined correctly. If it did not fit correctly it is possible a yard along the way use epoxy to install it. It should also have at least one or two "set screws" that are *spotted (*divots physically drilled into the bearing shell to accept the head of the set screw) into the bearing shell as redundant back up.
There are two ways to remove the bearing:
#1 Use a press-out tool. These are either hydraulic or similar to a Strut-Pro. They don't always work but do have a fairly high success rate. This is the least expensive option.
#2 Remove the shaft, may require the rudder being dropped, and cut the bearing out. The problem with this method is that the shaft is often ruined in the process if it is rusted into the gear flange and needs to be cut out.. Even if it comes out of the flange the flange can only very rarely be re-used as the fit interface is ruined.. The shaft to flange is an interference fit by design and the process involves carefully fitting the flange to the shaft by the machine shop. If the coupling just slides on the fit is NOT CORRECT to the shaft and this can be extremely dangerous. In other words the proper shaft to coupling fit means the coupling is actually slightly smaller in ID than the shaft is in OD...
Here are a few links:
https://marinehowto.com/new-prop-shaft/
https://marinehowto.com/replacing-a-cutlass-bearing-sleeve-bearing/
Focus on the parts about shaft coupling removal & fit
https://marinehowto.com/installing-a-pss-shaft-seal/