Hi guys, I am trying to change out the boot for the stuffing box on my '85 Hunter 34 which is currently in drydock. To change the boot I need to disconnect the shaft from the engine to remove the stuffing box itself so that I can slide on the new boot. I've removed the two set-screw style bolts from the flange holding the shaft, and we've decoupled the shaft flange from the engine flange by removing the four bolts that hold them together. The problem is that something, and I think it is just rust, is holding the shaft flange to the shaft with a death-grip. We've tried lots of WD-40 and Liquid Wrench and tapping the flange with a mallot in various ways (not too hard). Our latest failure involves putting a socket in the hole of the flange, clamping a metal plate to the other side of the socket, and then putting pressure on the socket, and thereby the end of the shaft, by tightening down the clamps. We succeded only in creating a socket-sized indentation in the metal plate. If I stick my finger in the hole, I feel some kind a ring around the edge of the hole right up against the shaft. I am guessing this is rust, but in case it was part of the flange, we selected a socket which would fit inside this "ring". We tried to take care that the socket wouldn't drop down over the ring as we were putting on the plate and the clamps. I tried to grow a third hand to facilitate creating this assembly, but no luck there either. I saw in the forum archives that someone reinserted the bolts to the engine flange to squeeze a socket between the two flanges. Our bolts were not quite long enough to do this--perhaps because I insisted on having a thin piece of metal between the socket and the engine flange to protect the bolt that sticks out the middle of it. Are we missing something, or does anyone have any ideas on what we might try? Are we fighting nearly twenty years of oxidation, or did we forget to remove some little pin somewhere? I know that there is a wedge fitted into the shaft to keep it from rotating within the flange, but I have been assured that this wedge is not stopping us from sliding out the shaft. Thanks for your help, Den Drown Hunter 34 - "Kojos'a"
- Status
Been There
The trick you tried with the socket should work. Perhaps you need a bigger ratchet or breaker bar to tighten. Once I broke a flange doing that (was $40 to replace). Another trick you should consider is heating the coupling and putting an ice bag on the shaft. The heat will expand the coupling and ice will cool the shaft. The slight expansion and contraction may help free up the coupling.
The trick you tried with the socket should work. Perhaps you need a bigger ratchet or breaker bar to tighten. Once I broke a flange doing that (was $40 to replace). Another trick you should consider is heating the coupling and putting an ice bag on the shaft. The heat will expand the coupling and ice will cool the shaft. The slight expansion and contraction may help free up the coupling.
shaft puller
I had almost the exact same problem you had,After five hours of trying to remove the shaft I went and asked the yard mechanic what was going on, he told me I would it would never come out with a shaft puller. Ten minutes later the shaft was out! Easy when you have the right tools! Get the shaft puller(slide hammer type) either borrow or rent and if need be hire the yard to pull shaft, you may also need it to reinstall the shaft. Good Luck !
I had almost the exact same problem you had,After five hours of trying to remove the shaft I went and asked the yard mechanic what was going on, he told me I would it would never come out with a shaft puller. Ten minutes later the shaft was out! Easy when you have the right tools! Get the shaft puller(slide hammer type) either borrow or rent and if need be hire the yard to pull shaft, you may also need it to reinstall the shaft. Good Luck !
I don't think the 34 has room for a slide hammer
But I'm with Pete about the 'right tools'. On my H34, I've removed the coupling from the shaft with a socket against the shaft and a piece of angle iron against the socket. Two holes were drilled into the iron to correspond to the flange. Bolts were inserted, (fine pitch threads)then tightened. As the shaft moved the assembly had to be taken apart and another socket stacked inside the hole but that depends on what is used as a drift. You know, after 20 years, why not just cut off the coupling. A new STAINLESS MONEL shaft is not much money and neither are couplings.
P.S. Den, do you write for a living? Good post.
But I'm with Pete about the 'right tools'. On my H34, I've removed the coupling from the shaft with a socket against the shaft and a piece of angle iron against the socket. Two holes were drilled into the iron to correspond to the flange. Bolts were inserted, (fine pitch threads)then tightened. As the shaft moved the assembly had to be taken apart and another socket stacked inside the hole but that depends on what is used as a drift. You know, after 20 years, why not just cut off the coupling. A new STAINLESS MONEL shaft is not much money and neither are couplings.
P.S. Den, do you write for a living? Good post.If you have the original shaft,
you are out of luck. A slide hammer will not fit in a 34. On mine, the original shaft (bronze)) was frozen so solid in the flange coupling that I wound up getting a sawz-all and cutting the shaft, removing it and replacing with a stainless shaft. FYI, I put the flange on a 20 ton press and still could not remove the end of the shaft that was in it. I had to machine it out of there. BTW, I had tried all of the methods described in these posts before resorting to the cutting. Good luck.
you are out of luck. A slide hammer will not fit in a 34. On mine, the original shaft (bronze)) was frozen so solid in the flange coupling that I wound up getting a sawz-all and cutting the shaft, removing it and replacing with a stainless shaft. FYI, I put the flange on a 20 ton press and still could not remove the end of the shaft that was in it. I had to machine it out of there. BTW, I had tried all of the methods described in these posts before resorting to the cutting. Good luck.
- Status