Jaguar 27 propshaft seal

SimonD

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My 1977 Jaguar 27 with orignal Volvo MD7a etc. has a propshaft seal (original I believe) which consists of a longish stern tube topped off at the gearbox end with what looks like a large hexagon cap which appears to screw down onto a hex nut. Just behind that is a nipple connected to a greaser. I assume that there is some packing in there and unscrewing the hex cap reveals it.

I'm a bit reluctant to mess with it as it doesn't leak. But as the boat is now out of the water and I don't know when it was last checked, I feel I should have a peek. Does anyone have any experience of this type of housing and if so, what's behind the nut and does it warrent checking?

Thanks

Simon
 

yoda

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Simon

It sounds like you have a very traditional stuffing box arrangement. The after most nut is a locking nut and will be released by tutrning anti-clockwise looking aft. This done the fwd nut can be either released (in the same direction) or tightened down onto the stuffing which forms the seal. Once this is tightened down to it's full extent most or all of the thread will no longer be visible. At this point you need to put in new stuffing.

If plenty of thread is still showing, water is held at bay by the occasional turn on the greaser and not too much grease is entering the boat then my advice is to leave well alone. If however you need to put packing into the stuffing box there is 2 schools of thought. 1) Remove all old packing and replace with as many turns of new as possible or 2) Just add new packing on top of the old. I tend to do 2) as mine is a pig to reach. Packing is quite easy to get hold of at a good chandlers and I have even seen it in a small pre-pack. Putting it in is best done by putting a long chamfer on the end and winding it round the shaft in a clockwise direction looking aft finishing with a second chamfer once you have got all you can fit into the stuffing box onto the shaft. The last problem is often the spanner to fit the nuts. Mine had to be made to measure to fit the limited space but was well worth it as it makes life so easy. Any more ? drop me a line

Yoda
 

dickhicks

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I have a Jaguar 27 and have just re-packed my gland. There is only a ¼" gap between the end of the gland and the coupling so I had to draw the prop shaft and twist off the rubber hose complete with the packing. Once on the bench it was an easy job to renew the packing and refit to the stern tube. The gland was fully tightened afterwards and locked with the lock nut - mine has a notched nut and a mole wrench was used to tighten the nut. Hopefully it will be OK when launched. I also considered fitting either a Deep Sea Sea or the PSS seal but I only have 5½" between the coupling and the stern tube and this is not enough for the PSS seal(which I prefer) as it appears to be better engineered than the Deep Sea Seal. Has any one had any experience with either of these seals?
 

SimonD

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Many thanks for these helpful and detailed replies. On the basis of your advice, I think I'll leave alone for now. Might think about getting a spanner made though!
 
G

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I have a Westerly Griffon which had the traditional stuffing box until a couple of years ago, but when I had to have a new prop shaft (long story) on the advice of the engineer I had a 'Volvo boot' (described as a rubber packing box by Volvo)fitted. It's very small and neat and requires little maintenance and I have been pleased with it. The only problem is that if you want to fit one on an old shaft then you need to make sure that the shaft is not worn at all (sometimes caused by overtightening of the stuffing box)where the volvo boot seals.

Good luck

Dave

Dave Cooke
 
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