Removal of cutlass bearing.

[dignity]

I'm having problems removing the cutlass bearing from my Nimbus 2600. The shaft comes out from the centre keel, the bearing is held in a outer water fluted holder which is bolted by two alan bolts to the keel, could this just be unbolted and removed, or is it fastened to the stern tube?

There is aprx 1 inch of cutlass protuding from the holder, I've tried to shift it but no way.

Has anyone any good ideas, I really don't want to drop the rudder and remove the shaft if I don't need to.

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[Mudplugger]

Normally to remove a cutlass bearing, u will have to undo the grub screws and with a bit of persuasion it will slide out....and off the shaft if u have removed prop etc. make sure that u have located all the grub screws!!. most two, but some 4. hope this helps. Tony W.

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[Sinbad1]

Yep, the stern tube will probably be screwed into the cutlass bearing housing so don't undo that. You will find that on the cutlass bearing housing there is at least one and possibly two, grub screws. These will be now covered in antifouling but some scraping will soon locate them. They are there to prevent the cutlass bearing spinning inside the housing when the prop turns. Clean them up and back them off.

How you remove the bearing will depend upon how deeply seated the bearing is into the housing. It would probably be easiest to totally remove the grub screw and pour some penetrating oil down the hole and leave for 24 hours, then twist out with a pipe wrench as you have a good sized piece of the bearing protruding.

Alternatively, if the bearing isn't pushed hard up into its seating within the housing, you may be able to get a grab on the bearings inboard lip with some bearing pullers. When we last replaced my bearing we cut three notches on the inboard end to allow us to grip it easy with a puller when next removing it.

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[dignity]

All the grub screws are removed, although I did only find 1, tried pipe wrench no joy just started to deform the cutlass. I was thinking of hub drawers, but is it safe to put forward pressure on the centre of the end of the shaft?

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[jeffro]

only other way is to remove the two allen bolts and then unscrew the whole assemble anti clockwise and remove as one then have it pressed out good luc

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[JerryHawkins]

I had exactly your problem and solved it by buying these two from Machinemart

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=040210251 (slide hammer)

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product.asp?p=040210253 (bearing separator)

I used a hacksaw to cut a groove on opposite sides of the exposed portion of the bearing then clamped the bearing separator around it. I attached the slide hammer to this and just "banged" it out. This is over £100 worth of tools so may not be worth it unless you can think of other uses (I've found a couple since!). You may be able to hire them for less than someone would charge you to remove it?

Cheers,

Jerry

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[Trevor_swfyc]

Agree with Jeffro you will by the sound of it have to remove the cutlass bearing holder, anti clockwise after removing the retain bolts. You will also have to remove the prop or take out the shaft otherwise how will you get the cutlass holder off.
I made an extractor to remove my cutlass but whatever you do, do not damage or distort the cutlass holder. Take the holder with you when you purchase a new cutlass bearing to ensure you get the correct interferance fit. Note also the shaft should turn freely on the new cutlass, if you remove the shaft take the bur of the shaft before you push it through the new bearing to avoid damage to the rubber.

Good luck
Trevor




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