Shaft removal

Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
Anyone actually remove or install a shaft on a C310? I cut my factory and installed the new one with the engine off the blocks. So i put the shaft in through the engine bay. Now I am trying to replace my cutless bearing again and I can not figure out how to get the shaft out without damaging the rudder.
 

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Jan 7, 2011
4,723
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
This is sort of a chicken or the egg issue....
On my O’Day 322, the shaft is pretty much in line with the rudder. When I replaced the shaft, I removed the stuffing box and hose plus pushed the strut bearing out ( I have a press to press it out). That gave me enough lateral play to get the shaft out past the rudder...
It was tight, and I took a little paint off the rudder, but I got the shaft out (and a new one in) that way.

But you want to take the shaft out to to get the strut bearing out...

Video of my bearing removal tool....

There are a number of threads that describe making a press-out tool. Mine was made by my brother-in-law, who is a great machinist...I couldn’t do that sort of work.

Greg
 
Apr 11, 2012
324
Cataina 400 MK II Santa Cruz
Yes, you should not have to remove the shaft to replace the cutlass bearing. It ws cheaper for me to hire a guy at the yard to replace mine, than to buy or rent a tool.
 
May 20, 2016
3,014
Catalina 36 MK1 94 Everett, WA
The C36 International Assoc has a tool loan program for Members. You might check with your Association to see if they loan cutless tools to its members

Les
 
Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
This is the third time we are replacing the cutless bearing. The first time was when we first bought the boat. The yard where the previous owner stored the boat had the tool so we just paid them.

Second time I mentioned above. I was replacing the shaft and had just cut the shaft away. I used Mainesail's method and it worked well.

The yard here does have the tool but since I am replacing the dripless bellows and separating the transmission coupling I thought I would be able to remove the shaft and do Mainesail's method again.

I should have had a tool like Greg made back in the States.
 
Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
The C36 International Assoc has a tool loan program for Members. You might check with your Association to see if they loan cutless tools to its members

Les
Yeah. I was the one who was supposed to look into getting one for our owner's association. I dropped the ball on that and will have to get back on it.

Jesse
 
Oct 17, 2011
221
Catalina 310 USA
curious, what are the symptoms of the cutless bearing needing replaced? Vibration? Noise?
thanks,
 
Nov 18, 2010
2,441
Catalina 310 Hingham, MA
curious, what are the symptoms of the cutless bearing needing replaced? Vibration? Noise?
thanks,
Both. Grab your prop and try to move it around. Essentially any movement means it's time to replace (less than 1/8 of an inch). Ours could have gone another year but we only haul out every few years (going for over 5 years after this one, been 4 since the last) so you do things early. This one has 1,200 hours and over 10k nm on it so I feel I got my monies worth.

Good luck,

Jesse
 
Oct 17, 2011
221
Catalina 310 USA
Both. Grab your prop and try to move it around. Essentially any movement means it's time to replace (less than 1/8 of an inch). Ours could have gone another year but we only haul out every few years (going for over 5 years after this one, been 4 since the last) so you do things early. This one has 1,200 hours and over 10k nm on it so I feel I got my monies worth.

Good luck,

Jesse
Thanks. Ours did have movement and I noticed weird vibrations this season. Did a short haul to redo the bottom last week and asked the marina to tackle this issue. The yard is in the process of replacing the cutlass bearing. They tried to get it out with their tool to press it out of the strut but the bearing was breaking into little pieces and didn't work. Just got a call this morning that they will need to drop the rudder now and pull the shaft.....sounds like it just doubled my original quote for the work :-(
 

Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
Thanks. Ours did have movement and I noticed weird vibrations this season. Did a short haul to redo the bottom last week and asked the marina to tackle this issue. The yard is in the process of replacing the cutlass bearing. They tried to get it out with their tool to press it out of the strut but the bearing was breaking into little pieces and didn't work. Just got a call this morning that they will need to drop the rudder now and pull the shaft.....sounds like it just doubled my original quote for the work :-(
Good luck. When we lived in Florida, our neighbors dug a hole in the sand and dropped the rudder into it. Up in New England, you would need some dynamite to dig a hole that deep. I hope yours goes smoothly.
 
Oct 17, 2011
221
Catalina 310 USA
Good luck. When we lived in Florida, our neighbors dug a hole in the sand and dropped the rudder into it. Up in New England, you would need some dynamite to dig a hole that deep. I hope yours goes smoothly.
Well, shaft was found to be worn around the area of the strut and no longer straight. They cut the shaft to remove and had a new stainless steel shaft made. Without the bearing in the strut they were able to get new shaft past rudder without dropping it. re-launching tomorrow.