Are dripless shaft seals 100% dripless

[Alex D]

It seems my starboard shaft seal is dripping a little. Just smidge, but there is a little water below the seal. I wonder if tnow that the water is colder the seal shrunk a little letting a drop in here and there. This did not happen in the summer. Got 305 hours on her now. What do you guys think?

Has anyone ever done these in a '99 - '02 340DA like mine? Do any major engine or tranny compnents have to be removed? Can't imagine how you'd get to them down there unless you find a really small guy wanting to work while doing a headstand.

 

[fwebster]

The drippless seal will drip when they are getting wear in the bearing body or in the lip seal. Unfortunately, once they start to drip it is a precursor of worse leaks to come. It is quite normal for the leaking to start in cold weather, but the lip seal should be elastic enough to keep the water out....until they get some wear.

The seal body is down in the blue rubber hose and is made from Delrin or some similar product. It rides on the prop shaft and keeps the lip seal centered on the shaft. The lip seal keeps the water out, but the Delrin piece is critical to the alignment of the seal.

Once you get some wear in the Delrin seal body, it wobbles on the shaft and that allows the rubber lip seal to move about and it begins to wear. A little wear, and you have a leak. The leak goes from a few drops to a steady stream of water in something like 25-40 hours (my estimate only - based on having replaced several) of running time.

Any run out over a few 1000th's in the shaft wears the seal quickly, as does running in sandy or shallow conditions where there is grit in the cooling water.

The seal is replaced by uncoupling the shaft from the engine coupler, removing the prop and pulling the shaft aft with a slide hammer until you get enough clearance to pull the seal off the transmission end of the shaft. As you can see, the boat must be out of the water to do this.......and replace both at the same time since you will already be paying for the haul out and set up. The seals are about $450 ea., depending upon size, and there are a couple of hours labor involved per side and 2 bodies are needed.

I've only done this on larger boats so I don't know if it can be done on a 340DA with the engines in place. I suspect it would not be a fun job if it can.

 

[bliss]

UGH! I think my starboard seal may be going. I just bought a 1997 330DA and found that has some water under the s. engine. Has anyone had experience with the 330DA seals?

 

[LMBoat]

Yup, no fun. You need to be a small skiny guy or hire a small skinny guy. Getting to the coupler is problem #1, getting to the prop shaft seal with two hands is problem #2. I've heard that the best thing to to is pull the shaft on one engine, pull that engine, then replace the seals on that prop shaft, then you have acess to the seal under the other engine. This job is worse then the water pump impeller replacement on this boat, and that's a tough job.

 

[Alex D]

Well, my Sea Ray shop did the impellers this spring without too much trouble and they have kind of a short guy for this stuff too. I would really hate to have them pull an engine for this!!

Are these dripless packages on Sea Rays made by Tides Marine? Looking at the various manufacturers, those look the most like the ones I have just from looking at them.

 

[LMBoat]

I have Tide's stong seals on mine, but that was back in '95. They have worked well for me and they have been great on the phone with any questions and parts.

 

[bliss]

Just got back from the boat last night. The SR dealer mechanic took a look and says -probably not the Tides dripless. More likely the port rudder packing.
See my new topic -- 330DA Rudder Packing. Bye.

 

[fwebster]

Alex.......the answer is yes.

If you replace the seals, specify to Tides that you want the ones with crossover cooling water feed. It connects the seal cooling water feeds to each other so that if you lose water flow on one engine, both seals keep cooling. The plastic seal body will only run a few seconds dry without ruining the whole seal.

 

[bliss]

Thank you. JS

 

[Alex D]

Just got back from the boat last night. The SR dealer mechanic took a look and says -probably not the Tides dripless. More likely the port rudder packing.
See my new topic -- 330DA Rudder Packing. Bye.

My rudder packings leak a little too ... just a few drips. anyway, I am more worried about the dripless.


Thanks Frank for the info !!

 

[Alex D]

My marina shop confirmed that they can change the dripless kits without any need for removing the engines. They got a little guy that can squeeze in there and do the work ... so it can be done, but still amazing !!

 

[kp913]

I am pretty sure that Tides Strong seal is the one that Sea Ray has been using for years.