Stern Glands

[sailing86]

(I know this is quite a common question however I did not find the answer through the search)

Our stearn gland is the type shown below...

We dont know when it was last repacked so must be more than 6 years ago.
It has recently started to drip to the extent of a small stream and grease is also squeasing out allot so am a little concerned. We are not squeesing exesive grease down however is a different type of grease to our normal. We plan to repack this winter and check it out. I realise some grease and water is needed but this seams excessive.

Should we tighten the locking nuts or should we leave it alone? Could 'fiddling' disturb the packing? Could the grease be the problem?

Thanks

 

[PCUK]

Evenly tighten the lock nuts very gently until you feel some resistance. Under-tighten rather than over-tighten. You can always tighten a little more if needed but if you overtighten you will overheat the packing and cause it to dry out. You won't do any harm as long as you don't overtighten.
Have a go!

 

[Spyro]

The point of the nuts is to take up the wear on the gland packing. If you have locking nuts loosen them then tighten the other nuts a bit until the drip or stream stops then retighten the lock nuts. Run engine in gear check for excesive leaks or excessive head in the gland.

 

[1955patric]

Most packing sold these days for packing stern glands seems to be tallow type packing. Over time these can lose resilience and become hard. If the follower nuts are overtightened the packing can burn which causes a hard shiny surface which will not seal properly. It can also cause grooving of the shaft which will again cause poor sealing. As PCUK said, do not overtighten - shaft should be free to turn with only slight resistance. If you can get hold of some, try to get hold of some PTFE loaded gland packing. You are aiming for no more than 1 or two drips every 30 seconds. Or do what I did and replace it with a PSS seal.

 

[Spyro]

[ QUOTE ]
The point of the nuts is to take up the wear on the gland packing. If you have locking nuts loosen them then tighten the other nuts a bit until the drip or stream stops then retighten the lock nuts. Run engine in gear check for excesive leaks or excessive head in the gland.

[/ QUOTE ]

Should have said HEAT in the gland /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[Conachair]

[ QUOTE ]
If you can get hold of some, try to get hold of some PTFE loaded gland packing.

[/ QUOTE ]
http://www.asap-supplies.com/ do ptfe packing. I have same design stern gland and get barely a drop of water now. They also do the special tool to remove old packing, makes life a lot easier.

 

[MoodySabre]

This is quite a good site
http://www.diybob.com/diyPackingGland.htm

 

[sailing86]

Thanks all for the replies, we sorted it out tonight.

When tightening it we realised that there are no locking nuts and the single nuts had worked loose!!! This meant that it was leaking (pissing out), and was not evenly tightened. Were going to get the locking nuts asap but will still check it out properly this winter.

 

[Spyro]

If you can't get the nuts a quick solution and safety measure would be to put a couple of cable ties pulled tight around the bolts, that should stop the nuts working loose or coming off completely