Stuffing box help

M

menos22

Member
May 26, 2009
165
Colonial Beach, VA
Boat Info
1994 Sea Ray 350 Express Bridge
Engines
Twin 454 Mercruiser With V-Drives
Noticed my port side stuffing box leaking quite heavily after return from a 3 hour trip. (1994 350 express bridge, v-drive, 454ci.). After removing the cotter pins, was able to get a wrench on the forward nut, (closest to the xmission) and tighten until it stopped leaking. Now I am confused, do I continue to tighten until the cotter pin holes align with the aft nut that has two hose clamps and a rubber boot just behind it. Or do I turn the aft nut to align the holes??? Most of the threads state to loosen the locking nut. Mine does not have a locking nut. Dont want to get it too tight, it is going to take a quite a turn to align the holes. Also was thinking about replacing the cotter pins with clevas pins, any ideas? My yard guy says I should be able to turn the shaft by hand, it I can not turn by had the nut is too tight. Thanks in advance for any advice or thoughts on this. Mike.
 
Yes, you do have a locking nut. The aft nut with the ears on it locks the forward nut in place. Loosen the aft nut, then adjust the forward nut to slow the leak to 2-3 drops a minute if you have flax packing, then tighten the rear nut against the forward one until the ears line up, reinsert the cotter pin and you are done.
 
thanks for the quick reply, when you say the aft nut is the locking nut are you referring to the one up against the rubber boot??? The one with the ground strap screwed to it, it also has about 6 ears with holes for the cotter pin. What do you think about replacing the cotter pins with clevas pins???
 
Here is a picture of my stuffing box. If I understand correctly, the rear nut, closest to the hose clamps is the "LOCKING NUT"? I should loosen this nut and tighten the "wide nut" until it stops leaking, then tighten the rear nut and align the cotter pin holes...?? I am probably making this more complicated than it really is. I was able to tighten the "wide Nut" to make it stop leaking without loosening the "locking nut". Can I just continue to tighten until the cotter pin holes line up or should I loosen the locking nut to align the holes. Sorry if this sounds confusing. Any advise appreciated. Thanks
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You shouldn't need to do anything more than loosen the rear nut to release the grip on the"wide" one. If you tighten the wide nut too far there is a risk of scoring the shaft and then you will never stop the leak. The packing nut should be tightened until you are down to 2-3 drops per minute, then run the jam nut up against the wide nut. If you cannot get the cotter pinholes to align then loosen the wide nut and tighten the jam nut until they do align rather then tightening the wide nut too far.
 
The large one closest to the hose clamps does NOT turn. Do not try to turn it! We do not have the conventional stuffing boxes on our boats where you have 2 nuts tightened against each other. The rubber hose is clamped directly to the "nut" closest to the clamps in your picture. Again, it does not turn!!! Don't try because you could damage the hose!!!!

The nut closest to the transmission is the ONLY one that turns in this assembly. Tighten it up until the dripping stops (like you already did), and align it to the closest hole from there. Put the cotter pin back in and your done. You should actually put 2 cotter pins in for safety (the other goes on the opposite side).
 
menos22 said:
Here is a picture of my stuffing box. If I understand correctly, the rear nut, closest to the hose clamps is the "LOCKING NUT"? I should loosen this nut and tighten the "wide nut" until it stops leaking, then tighten the rear nut and align the cotter pin holes...?? I am probably making this more complicated than it really is. I was able to tighten the "wide Nut" to make it stop leaking without loosening the "locking nut". Can I just continue to tighten until the cotter pin holes line up or should I loosen the locking nut to align the holes. Sorry if this sounds confusing. Any advise appreciated. Thanks
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I have the same units.
There isn't a lock nut.
The rear nut is part of the tube that the packing is in.
Any of the holes can be used...looks like 1/16 of a turn in either direction will do it.
I would go back 1/16 and pin it.
While turning it needs to drip to cool.
In a perfect world it should not drip unless spinning.
:)
 
Menos,
I forgot (duh!) that I am only 3 boats down from you at the marina. I will be down this afternoon if you want some help. Sounds like you are right on though. Just tighten it up (or loosen) 1/16 and put the pins in. Your done. Ready to go to Gilligans this weekend.
 
I've not seen a packing nut like that before. Shouldn't there be a hole in the smaller nut for a cotter pin to run through. The set ups I've seen all have holes on both nuts and you run the pins through both nuts to prevent them from turning.
 
Thanks buddy, you probably saved me a real problem. Will be down this afternoon. Thanks for jumping in. Gilligans sounds good.... Mike.
 
sbw1 said:
I've not seen a packing nut like that before. Shouldn't there be a hole in the smaller nut for a cotter pin to run through. The set ups I've seen all have holes on both nuts and you run the pins through both nuts to prevent them from turning.
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Ummmm, there are holes in both nuts... You can see them in the pics......
 
There are holes in both the nuts for the cotter pins, when they are aligned two pins got through opposit each other. Mabey it dosent show up in the photo.....Cheers. Mike.
 
I have the same stuffing box on my searay you may want to think about repacking it because if you look at the gap in your picture between the two nuts there is no thread showing that meens that you are about bottomed out on the nuts good luck
Tom
 
Man, that is one thing I don't miss from my old boat...the new to me one has dripless shafts and most worries about that are gone. That is one thing going for me i guess...
 
Not wanting to start a new thread I will need to install new seals in my stuff boxes as the boat has been out of the water for 2 years. When I took it out on a lake last spring for a test run one was leaking pretty bad.

Which would be the best packing:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...01&storeId=11151&partNumber=8224636&langId=-1

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...001&storeId=11151&partNumber=136087&langId=-1

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...001&storeId=11151&partNumber=362931&langId=-1
 
here is a picture of my stbd stuff box. As this is a 300 with little space in the bilge, let alone for a fat man, how would one go about checking and replacing (or adding) seal material and which material from above would you recommend? Looks like I will have some bilge cleaning to do too.

Thanks for the help!!:smt038
 

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AKBASSKING said:
here is a picture of my stbd stuff box. As this is a 300 with little space in the bilge, let alone for a fat man, how would one go about checking and replacing (or adding) seal material and which material from above would you recommend? Looks like I will have some bilge cleaning to do too.

Thanks for the help!!:smt038
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That is a PSS Shaft Seal drippless type.
No packing in that one at all.
It should not leak at all.
You can do a web search to learn all about them.
:)
 
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