Prop Shaft Removal

Riptide III

Riptide III

3D
Dec 8, 2007
1,139
Dartmouth MA
Boat Info
1997 Sea Ray 400DA
Cat 3116 TA
1994 Sea Ray Laguna CC 250 Tohatsu
Engines
:
I' ve been trying to remove the shaft from my vdrive. Finally gave the job to the boat yard. We tried a puller with some heat. There isn't enough room to get to the back of the shaft with a hammer. Unless someone has a genius idea I will be cutting the shaft and buying a new one. Does anyone have a good source or an idea of what I will spend on a replacement? I'm guessing about $1200. Thank You
 
I might be wrong and don't want to seem like a dumbass but if you leave the prop attached couldn't you whack the prop near the shaft with a wood block and hammer? If the v-drive end is loose it should come free, shouldn't it?
 
Your not a dumbass. We can't get the shaft free from the tapered coupler. You could bang all day on the prop. It would just damage the gear.
 
No……the tool we use is made for pulling the shaft after the prop has been removed. There is a sleeve on the end of the end of the rod that is screwed on the shaft, you then use the hammer to pull the shaft aft and out of the coupler.

There was one here made as you describe, but it lasted about 30 minutes before it was bent so badly it was useless.
 
Thanks Frank. Maybe I can weld one up.
Steve, how much room did you have at the end of your shaft? By the time I put the puller on I only had about 4 inches to swing a hammer. Like many things in life, if I could have hit it harder the results may have been different.
 
Use caution beating on the shaft as that shock load is directly transmitted to the gear box bearings and casting.
A puller on the coupler with heat, a lot of heat, like 500 plus degrees, on the coupler is appropriate. Do not heat the gear box side as that will toast the seals.
The puller should be used with the shaft nut still on but backed off several threads and be the type that pulls with bolts through all of the coupler bolt holes.
Mine is a round piece of 3/4" thick plate with holes matching the bolt pattern of the coupler and long bolts to install the plate onto the coupler. Between the plate and shaft end a Porta Power hydraulic puck is placed and pumped up to remove the coupler. You may also simply sequence the tightening of the bolts and pull the plate against the shaft and pull it off that way but make sure the bolts and nuts are fine thread and high strength. and you use hardened washers.
 
ttmott said:
Use caution beating on the shaft as that shock load is directly transmitted to the gear box bearings and casting.
A puller on the coupler with heat, a lot of heat, like 500 plus degrees, on the coupler is appropriate. Do not heat the gear box side as that will toast the seals.
The puller should be used with the shaft nut still on but backed off several threads and be the type that pulls with bolts through all of the coupler bolt holes.
Mine is a round piece of 3/4" thick plate with holes matching the bolt pattern of the coupler and long bolts to install the plate onto the coupler. Between the plate and shaft end a Porta Power hydraulic puck is placed and pumped up to remove the coupler. You may also simply sequence the tightening of the bolts and pull the plate against the shaft and pull it off that way but make sure the bolts and nuts are fine thread and high strength. and you use hardened washers.
Click to expand...

i think I understand about 90% of what you said. Do you have a picture? Did you purchase this or did you make it?
 
This should be an entertaining read for you.

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/pss_shaft_seal

I use the bolt press technique in conjunction with a slide hammer on the end of the shaft. If it doesn't move, it's easier and cheaper to cut the shaft and replace it and the hub. I appreciate the concern that they expressed in the article about a slide hammer.....but I have never seen a 5 lb slide hammer crack a transmission case.
 
No picture - it's over in the shop and not handy.
However the tool is nothing more than a disc of flat 3/4" thick plate steel with six holes drilled that match the holes in the coupler. You could probably get away with 1/2" thick plate also.
There are six threaded studs that connect the plate to the coupler. The studs are long enough to allow my Enerpac hydraulic puck ram to fit between the shaft and the plate.
Tighten up the studs and pump up the hydraulic ram and the coupler comes right off. You can even leave the two coupler halves together for the shaft removal just keep tabs on that key.
You can also, like I said, simply tighten up those studs and also probably pull off the coupler; the hydraulics, however, take the effort out of it all.
http://www.enerpac.com/en-us/indust...rsm-rcs-series-low-height-hydraulic-cylinders

These would be the stud assemblies (six total) to use:
https://www.mcmaster.com/#90322a140/=15soume
https://www.mcmaster.com/#95036a037/=15sovbe
https://www.mcmaster.com/#98029a032/=15soxm5
 
So......you pull the hub coupling back about 2" (3/4" for the plate and 1.28" for the small ram puck)? Then pump up the 5 ton puck so that it puts pressure on the shaft end? It's a clever approach. My only concern would be distorting the flange on the hub with that kind of pressure but it definitely should work if the hub isn't seized on the shaft.
 
PlayDate said:
So......you pull the hub coupling back about 2" (3/4" for the plate and 1.28" for the small ram puck)? Then pump up the 5 ton puck so that it puts pressure on the shaft end? It's a clever approach. My only concern would be distorting the flange on the hub with that kind of pressure but it definitely should work if the hub isn't seized on the shaft.
Click to expand...

No, only pull the coupling back enough to get the stud nuts behind the flange. The hydraulic puck is 50 tons and only 2.5 inches thick. If you would bend that 1/2 inch thick coupler flange then there are bigger issues at play.
Here is a sketch of the simple tool.
http://
 
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Got it. I was thinking about how to use it on straight shafts and your picture is for a V drive.
 
Ttmott, that is a fantastic setup. I need to figure out what way makes more sense from an economic standpoint. Buy the equipment and have a shop make the plate v.s. Cut the shaft. I assume there is also the possibility that I could purchase all the needed tools and the shaft would still have to be cut. What are your thoughts on that? Also, I assume you need to buy a hydraulic pump from the puck supplier or did you have a way around that? Thanks again to all of you guys.
 
Riptide III said:
Ttmott, that is a fantastic setup. I need to figure out what way makes more sense from an economic standpoint. Buy the equipment and have a shop make the plate v.s. Cut the shaft. I assume there is also the possibility that I could purchase all the needed tools and the shaft would still have to be cut. What are your thoughts on that? Also, I assume you need to buy a hydraulic pump from the puck supplier or did you have a way around that? Thanks again to all of you guys.
Click to expand...

I think you could get it off just by tightening up the nuts on the studs in a cross pattern sequence and not use the hydraulics; if you do by tightening the nuts make sure you get the hardened threaded items and in the SAE fine thread as shown. I use the hydraulics because I have it and it makes it very easy.
If you can save the shaft that's a major cost avoidance. I think I made that plate for around $40 using some scrap I got from a local steel fabricator and the bolts, nuts, and washers probably another $60. It's a tool you will always have....

BTW - that coupler is 6 holes equidistantly drilled about a diameter of 4.75 inches. The hole diameters are 0.51 Inches.
Tom
 
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At the boat yard here in Alabama they loosen the nut holding the shaft on the coupler, take an old prop shaft lay it on a couple boat stands so that one end is against the prop hub and the old shaft is at a shallow angle to the prop shaft and give it a good hard whack with a 50 lb sledgehammer. Pops loose every time.
 
Success, thank you all. More heat better puller. I am still going to make a puller like TT suggested. Next year stbd engine is coming out.
 

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