E33 Cutlass Bearing
Date: October 20, 1999
From: Henry & Chippy Gild henry@gezernet.co.il
Dear Paul,
I have a problem and wonder if someone doedn't have an answer. Last August after buying an E33 1984 at Long Island sailed it across the Atlantic (as you know), and decided to haul her out and to paint the underside as the sea in this part of the world is pretty dirty, or should I say good to the development of barnicles and our paints are more suitable than the Amercan ones. To cut a long story short we found that our cutlass bearing was slightly worn and replaced it.
Now 14 months later I suddenly developed a rather nasty grinding noise after I put the engine in gear. The noise was from the prop shaft and one could feel it if you turned the shaft by hand. Deciding to haul her out our lady Mistral III on the way to the crane suddenly was fine so decided to wait . Now 3 weeks later the noise returned with a decided grinding. Today I oppened the flange between the gear and propellor prop and pushed the shaft out about 8 inches. On returning it to its place, once again it was turning freely. I must add that the part of the shaft that was in contact to the cutlass bearing is not shall I say worn, but liked rubbed on the one side.
One other query? The flange attached to the propellor shaft has 4 holes, the two bigger ones seem to be threaded, but no screw or any hexagonal bolt whatsoever. There is a groove in the shaft with a square pin matching to the flange, but what stops the prop from leaving the flange?
Well I hope that someone can help as next week I will haul her out as there seems to be no other choice.
Date: October 23, 1999
From: Ed Phillips EPhil49932@aol.com
Hello;
In response to . . . the grinding noise in your prop shaft...I have a gut feeling that the cutlass bearing is not at fault, however, will probley need replaced at this point. The rubbing you described on one side of the shaft leads me to believe that the shaft is not aligned properly, and has worn the cutlass a bit egg shaped, and is in a bit of a bind (hence the grinding).
I am perplex as to why it stops occationally, I can only guess it has to do with the metal expanding after it runs a bit and gets warm, or when you put the shaft back in it was a different part of the shaft rubbing against the "warn part", and it took a while for it to re-gall itself....well now, if you do pull the shaft to replace the cutlass and recheck the alignment I would strongly suggest you take the shaft to a good machine shop and make sure it is true....If this stuff does not do the trick, you might have a dry bearing, gear in the transmission...doubt it though.
I'll be leaving on a circumnavigation in 2001, I curious to know how the atlantic crossing went, how long it took, etc.
Hope it all goes well..........Ed Phillips aboard "Mag Mell"
The threaded holes you refer to on the flange where your shaft connects to the gear box (without bolts) may be for a gear puller to remove the flange from the shaft...I have an Endeavour 37, and thats the way mine is...It was a real bear getting the flange off.
Date: October 24, 1999
From: Carl Hibbard Chgypsy@aol.com
Hello Henry & Chippy Gild,
I've excerpted a lot of text----And I am assuming that your output shaft exits the hull and you have a strut supported cutlass bearing, and not a hull mounted bearing. Also assuming that you have a fixed prop, not one that spins around on a gearing setup for multi pitch and or forward /reverse. (gears hanging up)
Now 14 months later I suddenly developed a rather nasty grinding noise after I put the engine in gear. The noise was from the prop shaft and one could feel it if you turned the shaft by hand.
---Yes I agree that this is typical cutlass bearing--- The part that bothers me is that you are using the term suddenly there it is and now its gone---and unless that bearing is moving in and out of the strut or has the locking screws on the bearing allowing circular movement (perhaps both) odds on its probably not your problem due to the time frames involved---
---I doubt that you will remember but does it suddenly start after a severe burst of power in reverse or forward ?---then I suppose those screws could be allowing turning.---
Now 3 weeks later the noise returned with a decided grinding. Today I opened the flange between the gear and propellor prop and pushed the shaft out about 8 inches. On returning it to its place, once again it was turning freely. I must add that the part of the shaft that was in contact to the cutlass bearing is not shall I say worn, but liked rubbed on the one side.
---With all of the above facts I'd really check the motor mounts "very" thoroughly. If you pry with a bar to make sure that there is no seperation on the rubber pads and that the mounts themselves are not shifting under the bolts.-----if the mounts were popping (up ,down, sideways ?) then the shaft would bow producing a one sided rub mark----The bowing by the way could also be forcing your strut bearing to spin--- If all appears correct Then I'd go into your next fact (below)-----
The flange attached to the propellor shaft has 4bolt holes, the two bigger ones seem to be threaded, but no screw or any hexagonal bolt whatsoever. There is a groove in the shaft with a square pin matching to the flange, but what stops the prop from leaving the flange?
---Suspect that this may a universal flange (replacement ?). Those two bolt holes with threads are normally for locking bolts that fit into a dip in a shaft (IE: shallow drill holes). From what you are describing there is a lot of torque on the key holding the shaft to the flange (along with some rust ?) and nothing else. If all this is true the only reason your shaft hasn't been lost is your Zinc on the shaft forward of the Cutlass strut, and the pressure fit of the shaft to the flange----I would be real curious if a sudden burst of reverse power produced the noise, and the a sudden burst in forward took it away--- its possible the shaft may be sliding off the key in reverse, and then slamming back in in forward---Either that or the transmission output shaft is coming out (reverse) and going back in (forward) which would indicate a very bad trans rear bushing/bearing.---It would take a reliable second party to observe this action---
Don't know whether this helps or not but you have several things to look at.
Date: October 24, 1999
From: Henry & Chippy Gild henry@gezernet.co.il
Hi Carl,
Well I can't tell you how your e-mail has given me a lot to think about, plus all that I have been discussing with an american friend of mine who has quite a lot of experience. I do not have a strut supporting the bearing, it is all in the sleave that enters the hull(stainless) and is then after beeing glued is then bolted onto the skeg from the body. My prop is fixed, and will be hopefully more enlightened after I haul her out on Wednesday. Will also check the engine mountings, plus must find out why I don'r have those locking screws.
Thanks for the info. and will keep you posted.
Date: May 13, 2002
From: Charlie Pawlosky cpawlosky@new.rr.com
If anyone out there can help us resolve this problem I would appreciate it. We pulled our prop.(33ft endeavour) in order to replace the cutlass bearing, which is showing a little wear. when we removed the four bolts holding "stainless steel shaft log which is bolted into the skeg" from the from the boat we discovered that someone has glued the "shaft log" into the skeg itself with 5200 3m adhesive. We need to remove the "shaft log" if we want to change the cutlass bearing, if this can't be achieved we only see one of three options. (none which are desirable) 1. Drop the rudder. 2. raise the engine. 3. Cut into the skeg and re-fiberglass the entire area. Does anyone out there have any ideas on how we can get the 5200 adhesive to release or to get the cutlass bearing out without pulling the shaft? We really don't want to have to choose from options 1, 2, or 3. Thanks for your help.
