I have a 78 C30 and the stuffing box needs to be re-packed. I have read how to do it in the many posts. What I need to know is the size and type I should order and use. Also a supplier suggestion will help too.
Stuffing box
- Thread starter Admiral
- Start date
I could do it that way however I am not wanting to open the stuffing box till I have the packing in hand.
Correct. Most 1" shafts use 3/16" but some use 1/4".
There's no reason you can't open it up, measure it, close it up and buy the right size, either.
What procedure & tools did you guys use to get your packing nuts off / open?
I tried to open mine last season & that nut is absolutely frozen on there from corrosion.
I tried using two pipe wrenches, one on each nut & they wouldn't budge, even with soaking the threads with penetrating oil.
I tried to open mine last season & that nut is absolutely frozen on there from corrosion.
I tried using two pipe wrenches, one on each nut & they wouldn't budge, even with soaking the threads with penetrating oil.
1. Invest in two packing nut wrenches as shown below.
2. Soak the threads in penetrating oil (daily) for about a week and try again. Gently tap all the faces of the thin lock nut with a ball peen hammer to encourage things along. Use a backup on the opposite face of the nut when tapping.
3. If the pen. oil doesn't work, use a flame to blast heat into the smaller lock nut and then quickly apply the wrenches.
Once you get them apart, apply great gobs of waterproof grease when they go back together so you don't go through this again.
Attachments
I don't know how much strain a packing wrench can take, but they don't look that strong to me. I would think that if a pipe wrench couldn't do it, you'd break a packing wrench. The advantage of the packing wrench is it will fit into tight spaces a pipe wrench won't.
I'd use the penetrating oil (PB Blaster or Kroil, not WD40), and be patient. Takes several applications over several days to work. Then go after it with the pipe wrenches. Biggest problem is its probably in a position where you can't put much leverage on it.
On my Columbia 36 you can't get to the stuffing box unless you're 6'2" and 90 lbs. The marina had a kid who could do it, but at 5'10" and 260, there's no way I could reach it. So I cut an access hatch in the cockpit sole and put in a Lasdrop seal. Hasn't leaked a drop since.
I'd use the penetrating oil (PB Blaster or Kroil, not WD40), and be patient. Takes several applications over several days to work. Then go after it with the pipe wrenches. Biggest problem is its probably in a position where you can't put much leverage on it.
On my Columbia 36 you can't get to the stuffing box unless you're 6'2" and 90 lbs. The marina had a kid who could do it, but at 5'10" and 260, there's no way I could reach it. So I cut an access hatch in the cockpit sole and put in a Lasdrop seal. Hasn't leaked a drop since.
dont know about your boat but i was tightening the drip on a twin engine carver one time and found that one shaft had a right hand thread and the other had a left hand thread on the stuffing box...i assumed that was because of the rotation of the shafts so you may have a left hand rotating stuffing box nut ...check and see if that is the case..... that may be your problem
The wrench pictured above is called a basin ranch is used to tighten the nuts on sink drains. I went to harbor freight and invested in a large crescent wrench cost was about 17 dollars. I already had one so only needed to buy one more.
A caveat if your shaft is bronze, as my "new" '82 C30's is: As older bronze shafts tended to have a higher zinc content than current bronzes, the newer graphite-impregnated packing materials can react electrolytically with the zinc and cause pitting, as I found on my bronze shaft within the stuffing box, with old, worn graphite-type packing.
Mulling over the in-water "fix" possibilities, I elected to try "turning" the 1" shaft with my MD-5411 engine in Fwd at about 1500 RPM (750 shaft), using a fine-toothed fille until bright metal and no pits seen, then finishing with 600 grit emery paper. I was surprised that there was not a huge water flow with the packing nut off, and I re-packed with West's Western Pacific Trading PTFE 3/16" graphite-free packing.
Here's a link approximating what I saw - near the end of the thread (and an excellent re-packing tutorial):
http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/stuffing_box&page=3
Pete