P bracket wear

[Guest]

I have recently taken my boat out for the season, and notice movement in the shaft passing through the P bracket. There appears to be a bearing which must be worn. Please can anyone inform me what the bearing is made of and are they easy to replace. There is also a small nut on the side of the bracket! cheers.

 

[brianhumber]

Rather than post a long thread, its best to look at the maker of these bearings own very helpful website - Countrose of Leeds. They also supply bearings to the public as well as chandlers. ( much cheaper) If you take care you can change the bearing by removing your prop and pulling/driving the old bearing out without the need to remove the shaft.

 

[pete]

Probably a cutless bearing (bronze bush with a rubber inner lining) with slots along it for water lubrication mine has two grub screws through P bracket nipping it in place I have just replaced mine but had to make a puller and warm it up to get it out,as I did not want to hammer against P bracket.
I only had to remove prop and left the shaft in place.good luck

 

[Strathglass]

Both the replies are correct BUT there may be two or more grub screws holding the bearing in place in addition to your small nut. So clean the outside of the p-bracket to check before trying any pullers. If the bearing is very tight you may have to extract the propshaft instead of removing the prop and use a hacksaw on the bearing.
I would also check shaft alignment both before anr after relaunching.
ASAP, http://www.asap-supplies.com/ stock a very wide range of bearings.

 

[brianhumber]

If the bearing is tight, then make a drift from suitable length of tube cut in half lengthways. Weld a knocking knob on the outer surface and hey presto-tap away pushing out bearing along the shaft towards prop taper. Changed my Cutlass this summer in less than 3 hours.
Grub screw advice is very good. Don't be afraid to 'butcher' an allen screw to get the tightest possible fit in the screw. If you round off the internal shoulders in the grub screw i'm afraid its drill out and retap time.
Also remember to check the prop shaft taper fit is clean and wobble free without the woodruff key. I'm known several craft where props have come off becuase the prop was tightened up with the key binding against the prop. The taper 'grip' between prop and shaft should suffice, the key being there as a Victorian design hangover as they did not have the benifit of modern hydraulic pullers and nuts.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for all the replies, I now have the confidence to tackle the job in hand.

 

[charles_reed]

The bearing can be made from a number of different materials - generally nitrile rubber on a bronze backing, though polyurethane is frequently used where you've got high speeds/loads.

To change it you'll need to pull the propellor and then knock out the old bearing - you'll usually find a couple of grubscrews holding it in place.
Use a micrometer to measure the shaft size and the internal P-bracket size and get in touch with Countrose - they're about 85 miles S of Leeds, the tel no is 0121 356 7220, talk with either Keith Reddings or Andy Markham.
Countrose are easily the best people to go to for "special" cutless bearings.
You won't be able to buy from them direct but they'll put you on to one of their customers - I'd suggest Les Hill of Lake Engineering on 01202 621631, he's a sound engineer. If your boat is anywhere near Poole you might like to get him to do the complete job, including aligning the engine.
Good luck

 

[charles_reed]

Sorry about that Wilson47

Les apparently has got all idle and doesn't like getting his hands dirty any more - it's about 10 years since he last did anything for me, but he supplies me with sterngear at trade prices and handles a number of high-quality imports