'Home-made' cutless bearing remover

[Mei Mac]

In case it may be of any use to anyone, I removed the cutless bearing from my boat recently and felt chuffed with myself for doing so.

I didn't fancy the prospect of paying the yard to do it or buy a purpose made remover. I really didn't want to attempt to do it myself until I had a good look at what I had to hand in my shed.

I had a bearing puller, I asked a local scaffold company for a short piece of pipe and sent away for a 'cut to size' disc of 6mm thick mild steel (£3.00). I added a few plates to add length to the puller's reach and then put it all in place.

The cutless bearing was 1 1/8" x 1 5/8" x 4 1/2" so the 40mm steel disc (which i reduced to 39mm) covered the end of the bearing but was smaller by a few mm to fit inside the 'P' bracket hole. Grip was a problem at the other end so I cut a piece of scaffold pipe and opened it out a bit so that the cutless bearing would pass through.

Having taken out the grub nuts either side, I turned the bearing bolt and slowly out popped the bearing!

Phew!

 

[cherod]

VG,, an advantage of a sail drive .

 

[rogerthebodger]

Good job

This is a DIY one made by a forum member

DIY cutless bearing extractor - Practical Boat Owner

 

[Mei Mac]

Good job

This is a DIY one made by a forum member

DIY cutless bearing extractor - Practical Boat Owner

To be honest I had seen this but didn't have the bits. I would have had to buy them and so on. I suspect that this one would be easier to handle than one I used since at one point I needed four or five hands to get everything in place before tightening the bolt! I would nearly get there and the whole lot would fall to the floor! But hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good story!

 

[rogerthebodger]

To be honest I had seen this but didn't have the bits. I would have had to buy them and so on. I suspect that this one would be easier to handle than one I used since at one point I needed four or five hands to get everything in place before tightening the bolt! I would nearly get there and the whole lot would fall to the floor! But hey, why let the facts get in the way of a good story!

Whatever float your boat or whatever you need to float you boat.

I find you always need 4 to five hands to do a job or a miniature hand to get into a tight space.

 

[Mei Mac]

The guy I bought my new bearing from told me that the prop shaft may seem a bit loose inside the bearing, with a slight bit of play. But after time, he said, the hard black lining takes in an amount of water and expands a little and everything will fit nicely. I wasn't aware of this.

I've also heard that it's a good idea to put the new bearing in the freezer before trying to install it in the 'P' bracket, since it will reduce slightly in size.

Any comments?

 

[rogerthebodger]

The guy I bought my new bearing from told me that the prop shaft may seem a bit loose inside the bearing, with a slight bit of play. But after time, he said, the hard black lining takes in an amount of water and expands a little and everything will fit nicely. I wasn't aware of this.

I've also heard that it's a good idea to put the new bearing in the freezer before trying to install it in the 'P' bracket, since it will reduce slightly in size.

Any comments?

If the cutlass bush is made of nylon that could be the case but in my view nylon is not the correct material.

All my cutlass and rudder bushes are vesconite which is made for train wheel bearings for the mines here.

There are similar materials available in the UK as is vesconite.

Yes putting it in the freezer will shrink the bush and make it easer to push in to the housing.

 

[cherod]

The guy I bought my new bearing from told me that the prop shaft may seem a bit loose inside the bearing, with a slight bit of play. But after time, he said, the hard black lining takes in an amount of water and expands a little and everything will fit nicely. I wasn't aware of this.

I've also heard that it's a good idea to put the new bearing in the freezer before trying to install it in the 'P' bracket, since it will reduce slightly in size.

Any comments?

the fridge is common with fitting many bearing type things ,, the float , no experience ( yet )

 

[Beneteau381]

Good job

This is a DIY one made by a forum member

DIY cutless bearing extractor - Practical Boat Owner

Rog
the fella did good, why try to upstage him? ITNPW of course!

 

[Mei Mac]

If the cutlass bush is made of nylon that could be the case but in my view nylon is not the correct material.

All my cutlass and rudder bushes are vesconite which is made for train wheel bearings for the mines here.

There are similar materials available in the UK as is vesconite.

Yes putting it in the freezer will shrink the bush and make it easer to push in to the housing.

This is a Vetus bearing, brass with a polyurethane-rubber lining.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Rog
the fella did good, why try to upstage him? ITNPW of course!

Yes he did very good as I said.

Just trying to give him an alternative way of doing the job

The kit I posted is not mine BTW again as I said

Is there anything wrong in that or against any rules?

 

[rogerthebodger]

This is a Vetus bearing, brass with a polyurethane-rubber lining.

OK makes sense.. Might be worth checking the O/D of the brass and the I/D of the mounting to calculate what the contraction of the rubber on the shaft once fitted.

 

[Mei Mac]

Yes he did very good as I said.

Just trying to give him an alternative way of doing the job

The kit I posted is not mine BTW again as I said

Is there anything wrong in that or against any rules?

No offense (if that's the word) taken! I welcome any ideas, improvements etc.

 

[Neil_Y]

Nice job.
It's not so common but some vessels fitted with composite bearings will not be a press fit but a clearance fit bedded on epoxy, to remove these heat the carrier and the epoxy they're put in with will soften. Or as they are brittle a sharp chisel can crack them away from carrier.

 

[Beneteau381]

Yes he did very good as I said.

Just trying to give him an alternative way of doing the job

The kit I posted is not mine BTW again as I said

Is there anything wrong in that or against any rules?

He did it all himself, he is proud of what he did by the looks of it. Why does he need an alternative way? His way worked fine. Better to just congratulate him rather than come across as a smarty pants?

 

[Mei Mac]

He did it all himself, he is proud of what he did by the looks of it. Why does he need an alternative way? His way worked fine. Better to just congratulate him rather than come across as a smarty pants?

I have no issues with what Rogershaw said. I now feel like a small child in between two bickering parents!

 

[rogerthebodger]

I have no issues with what Rogershaw said. I now feel like a small child in between two bickering parents!

I'm not bickering but others seem to see it necessary to criticise others for reasons I cannot really comprehend and which are unnecessary as it just does not add any value.

Any for the third time very it's a very good job and even you did say you were not offended others seem to have been.

I just now ignore the naysayers

 

[TernVI]

Roger's post should be of interest to people who don't own a suitable 3 leg puller.
Mei Mac's post is interesting to people who do or can borrow one.

It's good to discuss different methods, you never know who it might help.
I used a bit of tube from an old acrow prop to pull the bearing into and an old ball race which happened to be the right size, with a length of M12 studding to provide the force.
But one boat was having none of it, the cutless was in so tight I had to cut it out.

 

[Yngmar]

Whenever I see the yard workers of the world do this job, it seems to involve a lot of thwacking with a bloody great hammer and makes me glad I have a saildrive (which of course is also not without it's downsides). Always makes me wonder how well those brackets must be attached to the hulls

I guess when they use a proper remover such as the ones decpited it just doesn't attract my attention in quite the same way and I never notice it.

 

[Mei Mac]

Whenever I see the yard workers of the world do this job, it seems to involve a lot of thwacking with a bloody great hammer and makes me glad I have a saildrive (which of course is also not without it's downsides). Always makes me wonder how well those brackets must be attached to the hulls

I guess when they use a proper remover such as the ones decpited it just doesn't attract my attention in quite the same way and I never notice it.

I was petrified of damaging the 'P' bracket so I resorted to a 'slowly, slowly, catchy monkey' approach!