Cutless Beaqring

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yodagwb
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:34 am

Cutless Beaqring

Post by yodagwb »

Can anyone enlighten me with their knowledge of the cutlass bearing and whet is invloved with its replacement? It would appear that either the bearing or packing has worked it way out from the hull and down the shaft about 1". Looks like the line cutter stopped it progression. Not much movement side to side but there is vertical movement. I am guessing that it is time for a cutlass replacement, 8 yrs 1800hrs. Anyone know what is invloved or is this something a mechanic needs to press in? Thoughts?
Triumph
Posts: 256
Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2005 7:34 am
Location: Tampa, Fl

Re: Cutless Beaqring

Post by Triumph »

Maybe you do not have a problem if there is no shaft play in the cutlass.

You probably have a black nylon cutlass bearing? When the boats are built, about 1" of the bearing is left exposed on the prop side so that you can get a hold of it to get it out. Unfortunately, the nylon will probably still not come out, and you'll have to have the engine moved off it's mounts and the shaft brought up into the boat, and removed. If your hull is a later model, with the bronze bearing , this might come out because it will not break apart when you try to remove it. That is, you can tightly get a hold of the bronze and twist it out. The nylon will just crush, and break apart. There are set screws for either, and of course these need backed out in either case.

To get the nylon one out, you can remove more of the fiberglass (additional 1") that it is encased in, (outside of hull near prop) but it probbaly still will not budge. An alternative to moving the engine, is to drop the rudder to get the shaft out. Just maybe, a talented mechanic could remove the gland inside the boat, fit something around the shaft on the interior, and bang the bearing out. Anyway you cut it, the nylon bearing is a problem to remove, and once Catalina discovered this, they changed to the bronze bearing, I think in mid-2005.
AynB
Posts: 88
Joined: Tue Jul 08, 2008 8:13 pm

Re: Cutless Beaqring

Post by AynB »

Just had our cutless bearing replaced ( as part of the project with the new transmission ).
Two things we learned:
1) Original Cutless Bearings were fiberglass with rubber wear surface for the shaft. They were installed with 3/4" to 1" of the bearing "proud" of the shaft log.
This extra unsupported section is where ours developed cracks and led to delamination of the rubber from the fiberglass.
2) The replacement is brass / bronze with a rubber wear surface and was driven home flush with the shaft log, thus no unsupported surfaces.
The pro that I spoke with as well as the mechanics and techs said that the fiberglass ones were left proud to facilitate replacement.

My suggestion: get a magnifying glass and examine the rubber to fiberglass area all around the bearing and look for cracks.

Al
Halona
Hull #17
yodagwb
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2006 8:34 am

Re: Cutless Beaqring

Post by yodagwb »

Andy- can you tell me was it necessary to drop the rudder or unmount the engine? It sound like you may of had a yard do the replacement, if I may be so bold as to ask what kind of number am I looking at, how bad is the bleeding.
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dvolkman
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 9:25 am
Location: City Island, NY

Re: Cutless Beaqring

Post by dvolkman »

We may be replacing our cutlass bearing. We have the original phenolic cutlass bearing in place now and the bronze Morse Bonito to replace it with. Are there any owners who have replaced it themselves? Was anyone able to successfully pull the old one out and if so...how did you do it? Do the two pins actually hold the bearing in place at all?

Thanks,
David V.
Hull#261
Electric Ladyland
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