Stuffing Box ID and Adjustment

Parts ordered including cutlass bearing.

Didn't get to this over the winter, had some other things come up.

I ended up having to cut the shaft. The safety collar had to be cut off. I nicked the shaft in the process.

I'll be ordering a new double taper shaft and shaft seal this week from skidim.

I'm leaning toward a dripless shaft seal. I don't have a stuffing box. Buying a traditional set up isn't much cheaper than the dripless.

Can I test the Cutlass bearing? Don't want to replace it if I don't need too.
Any other "while I'm in there" things to consider?

It's not a safety collar !     It is the front half of your 80's Supra PSS.
note the o-ring inside. (pic below)
When your boat was new it had a rubber bellows instead of the straight hose it has now.
Someone did some freelance hacking for you before you got there.
I would take Pete's advice and replace the whole schmere with the traditional packing seal.
And I think you already got the memo on the PVC.



Here's what it kinda looked like in '86 - except in the late 80's Supra did not have the water feed.

But your shaft may be fine, check first, if a new one is needed ARE is a great option.

A few drips per minute is not bad, you might be able to grease that seal as advised and finish out the summer.   Your full repair is a good off season job so you can take your time.
The ARE Shaft is the best fix for sure and I bought one for my boat.
With that said I have replaced 3 of the single taper shafts and they do come out without that much trouble if you are careful and logical.   On my 78 Nautique I had to replace 2 shafts. On our 95 I replaced one. I unbolted from the tranny, Slipped a socket just smaller than shaft size in between the tranny and the coupler and used the 4 bolts to slowly and evenly tighten and push the shaft out.   I may have needed longer bolts for this but it was a few years back and I don't remember. But it worked well and did not take long, 30 minutes maybe. This worked twice.   On my 95 the boat ran so long with a bent shaft, previous owner, that the coupler slid off when I loosened the set screws..
It was worn out.   Putting the coupler back on takes some thought but there is good advice on here to properly heat and install those and it was done for years prior to ARE but the ARE is really nice and easy to work with.

Jake,
I just now noticed your signature with the Supra listed. All along I thought we were talking CC!! See what you get with a Supra - that cheesy stuffing gland!!   

Oh mine is double taper. Its made by elberts just looked it up. Still dont know what double taper means.

Poorhouse wrote: lcgordon wrote: . Pretty easy to remove shaft and stuffing box. They are relatively cheap. Think I paid 60 bucks for a new one and it came with packing. The DIY's I'm finding for shaft removal do not make it look easy. Removing the coupler looks like a bear of a job and can damage the transmission unless you have some specialty tools. Am I looking at the wrong DIY's?

lcgordon wrote: I dont see how you could possibly damage the transmission. Getting the 4 bolts out and the coupler unbolted from the tranny is easy. I dont know what kind of shaft and coupler you have. Im sure some of the other guys who have these boats could tell you exactly what to do. Mine is tapered so it came off pretty easy. Really the worst you will be out is 400 bucks. Its alot of money but compared to other boat costs its not that bad.

Landis,
Removing a single taper shaft coupling is BY FAR NOT easy with it's shrink to fit interference fit.!! You ether have a double taper shaft or your shaft and coupling were fretted due to bad alignment.

Damage to the trans is extremely unlikely but, using the "long bolt and spacer trick" to remove the shaft coupling can distort the face of the coupling half on the trans.

Jake,
You are correct with the coupling removal and the reason to check the shaft first. If bent, cut it out!!

lcgordon wrote: It also may have been the cheapest option at that time. Pretty easy to remove shaft and stuffing box. They are relatively cheap. Think I paid 60 bucks for a new one and it came with packing.

That is what I was hoping (assuming the shaft is straight).

The DIY's I'm finding for shaft removal do not make it look easy.
Removing the coupler looks like a bear of a job and can damage the transmission unless you have some specialty tools.
Am I looking at the wrong DIY's?

Poorhouse wrote: Theoretical question - If a person were set on using this type of stuffing box how would they plan to service the seal? Does a double taper shaft slide out of the coupler? That is the only way I can imagine this making sense to use.

With the double taper ARE and the trans coupling held on with a taper, there's a ejecting nut that screws into the coupling popping the shaft out of the taper. Very easy R&R!

As mentioned, that stuffing gland doesn't impress me at all. I would not bother even trying to fix it. I have a feeling Supra used it because of it's short installed length and they couldn't fir a good common stuffing gland in whereas your CC has plenty of room

So are you trying to move the silver safety collar out of the way so you can remove the shaft boot to check and see how the driveshaft is running through the log?

If that's the case, why not just cut the collar off?

You will also note that the set screws on the shaft coupler appear to be missing. I'm guessing that the shaft is not original.

JQ

Re-reading this, I think there may be come confusion on which collar I am referring too.

I'm talking about the small stainless collar just ahead of the stuffing box. Shown in both pics but more clearly in the second pic.

I can't imagine it was pressed on. I'm guessing you guys were referring to the collar where the shaft meets the transmission.

Good advice. I'll look into a dial indicater.

I'm still curious what the process would be to service either this seal or a packing gland nut. With the press fit collar the parts are captured.

So from this point if the shaft is bent I cut it and start over.
If the shaft is not bent I remove the collar, disassemble and rebuild with a new stuffing box.

To salvage the remainder of the season I could reassemble as is with fresh grease on the seal. Maybe 6 -8 days on the water. Thoughts on that?

Jake,
It sounds like you may not know much about the boats past. Even if the PO did tell you some things, he may not have told you the complete story so, I have a suggestion. Seeing the PO has got that odd ball shaft seal in it, I'd say something has happened to the shaft. Is it new or old? Is it straight or bent? First, check out the alignment video. There's a link in the FAQ thread in the maintenance forum. In it, there's some explanation on using a dial indicator clamped to the strut to check for shaft straightness. The shaft should be within .003" straight. Especially check at the aft end of the prop taper. If the prop has ever taken a hit, aft of the strut is where the shaft typically bends and that will show up. What I'm getting at here is if the shaft is bent, cut it out, forget messing with the safety collar and the heat shrunk interference fit of the trans coupling and replace the shaft with an ARE system. The ARE is a double taper shaft that makes it's R&R real easy!