is it normal to drop rudder for cutless replacement?

[mdrifter]

I'm faced with dropping the rudder to replace the "P" bracket held cutless bearing - seems a bit ott or is it? Is there another way, e.g. a tool to fit on to shaft inboard of "P" which can be "gently" walloped to remove the bearing...and not damage the "P" bracket?

 

[vyv_cox]

There is an article in this month's PBO (or a very recent one) on this subject. You need a puller specially designed to pull the old bearing out and pull the new one in. This is normally made up from a length of studding and a piece of steel tubing or something similar that will fit inside the bore of the P-bracket. It is possible to do this job without removing the drive shaft but as you have not done it before I guess you will be better off removing it. You only need to remove the rudder if it is necessary to get the shaft out. This is not usually the case.

Never wallop the P-bracket, it has a long lever arm and is not particularlty strongly supported in the boat. You run the risk of causing serious structural damage.

 

[colvic987]

I would of thought that with a p bracket, there would be enought room around it to be able to remove the cutless bearing without the removal of the rudder.
As vyv said you would need a puller or a sleeve to pull the bearing out..
as demostrated in one of the sailing mags this month, if this is not achievable with your boat then the rudder would have to come off, to give you the space you would need to get the right angle to pull the prop off then the cutless bearing..

If you gave some indication of the type of boat you have, then someone could give you right solution to your problem...otherwise we can only give you an overall solution to your question covering many types of boats.

 

[Lizzie_B]

There is a step by step guide with pictures at www.catalina38.org click on tech tips, and then cutlass bearing replacement. There is also a magazine article referred to which if you emailed on the message board someone would email you.
Good Luck /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[kandoma]

there is an alternate way of removing the cutlass bearing:

get a saw blade for a " metal saw machine". Sorry for my bad english description. I hope, you understand, what I mean. This blades are much more stable and bigger then the usual metal blades used in hacksaws.

Wrap one end with tape, to protect your hands. Start splitting the cutlass bearing with this saw blade, manually. When you have cut the cutlass, use a chisel to reduce the diameter of the cutlass bearing and simply remove it by hand.

Easy, its a half an hour job, without puller. I have done this (guided by an old boat yard owner) twice and will do it next year again.

I assume, you have no problems in removing the shaft first. On my boat, the rudder has to go, otherwise I can not remove the shaft.

Peter

 

[ColinHuggins]

Re: is it normal to drop rudder for cutlass replacement?

'fraid I took the opportunity to check the bearings when the rudder was off - only to find that there wasn't a top one at all! A very useful exercise indeed.

 

[mdrifter]

Many thanks for the replies. It's a Westerly SeaHawk and I've posted a msg on WOA forum as well. BTW anyone remember which magazine had the article referred to? Is a copy available?...and I'll also have a look at the Catalina website mentioned...Thanks again.

 

[mdrifter]

Success! Found a piece of tubing about the right diameter and cut it down the middle - wrapped some masking tape around the shaft and then paced the split cylinder around the shaft, using a 4mm drill bit to maintain the gap (tubing a bit on the narrow side) and taped the halves together. Then used the club prop puller with c.15" threaded rod to push the bearing out. It worked pretty well with the addition of a spanner on the shaft because the prop puller slot was a little wide. Now I have the bearing out I can use it to push the new one in and afterwards I'll split the old one to use as a better fit pusher for the next time!