Stuffing box service - how to

[sailorman]

I'm half tempted to do away with it and replace with a Volvo seal insted.

keep what you have, its bullet proof,dont over tighten the collet & just lightly grease to keep the water out

 

[NormanS]

Keep it, you will never have a catastrophic failure with a properly installed stuffing box.

 

[Sniper]

Must be the stuffing box season. I'm just about to do mine and by fortunate chance have obtained graphite packing. I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to remove the old packing and also how remarkably intact it was after at least 20 years use!

 

[stevd]

How much grease do people use when repacking. Do you just smear the rope with it?

 

[sailorman]

just a smear on the shaft, "just" tighten the compression collar (& do not over do it) & turn the greaser until slight pressure is detected. run the engine in gear & make sure the stuffing box isnt running hot or leaking. adjust collar as req.
mine doesnt run hot,leak or spread grease about the engine box

 

[Alpha22]

quick tip from a marine engineer friend about stuffing box and what is hot and what is not.......if you can keep your hand on it, it's not hot. unless some of the experts know better...........but I've repacked stuffing boxes a couple of times and never had a problem

With PTFE at high revs (2000rpm) mine was way beyond too hot to touch.. it burnt my fingers... I'm surprised it wasn't smoking!!!

 

[sailorman]

With PTFE at high revs (2000rpm) mine was way beyond too hot to touch.. it burnt my fingers... I'm surprised it wasn't smoking!!!

Also the shaft will get excessive wear too

 

[Tranona]

Keep it, you will never have a catastrophic failure with a properly installed stuffing box.

Neither will a Volvo seal.

 

[KellysEye]

One thing I did was push the waxed flax in then tightened it which pushed the flax back then added more flax, thus making sure the stuffing box was full.

 

[ghostlymoron]

I didn't put any grease in with the packing on the basis that graphite is a lubricant. Did I do wrong?

 

[ghostlymoron]

Neither will a Volvo seal.

With a Volvo seal you've got nothing you can tighten down if one of the lip seals tears off.

 

[Tranona]

With a Volvo seal you've got nothing you can tighten down if one of the lip seals tears off.

There are two seals moulded well inside the rubber and the chances of anything tearing them off are minimal.