Removing prop shaft nut on V-drive

[Barefooter92]

Stupid question...its not a left handed nut is it?

Only reason I ask is I have been known to spend hours on my truck only to find out I was turning the wrong way.

[X-1Texas]

The left-handed nut was one of my first thoughts also. But to confirm it's NOT left hand thread. It was just extremely tight.

The round bar trick won't work with my set up. The end of the shaft sticks out through the coupler.

[wakescene]

My shaft actually has a small point sticking out from where is was machined and the cut off was done. It's a splined shaft, so it shouldn't have a key. I may put the nut back and leave the lip sticking out to get me something to put the air chisel against. Thanks for the air chisel idea.

Changing the shaft b/c I was changing prop and noticed the shaft had little wobble on the end. So I decided to change it out to make it all run true. I'll take the old shaft to a machine shop friend and have them straighten it. That way I have a spare.

While you have the shaft out, check the Strut bearings for wear. It's the best time to replace them, especially since you mentioned a wobble. Skidim has just about anyone that you might need. http://www.skidim.com/products.asp?dept=1119

Good luck and keep us posted.

[X-1Texas]

Success! I got it out tonight. First I tried the air chisel, then I straighten out my make-shift puller and put used my cro-moly piece with the old puller and that broke it loose. Maybe the combination of the vibration from the air chisel and then the tougher puller worked. Anyway it's out. If anyone wants to see the puller I can take a picture. It was pretty easy to make.

Skidim is awesome. I used them for all the parts I bought for my old boat ('89 Supra). I'm getting the new shaft through them, they are having it drop shipped to me. I also have a new strut that I bought from them. So when this is done I should be good.

Thanks to everyone for giving suggestions.

[rgardjr1]

Success! I got it out tonight. First I tried the air chisel, then I straighten out my make-shift puller and put used my cro-moly piece with the old puller and that broke it loose. Maybe the combination of the vibration from the air chisel and then the tougher puller worked. Anyway it's out. If anyone wants to see the puller I can take a picture. It was pretty easy to make.

Skidim is awesome. I used them for all the parts I bought for my old boat ('89 Supra). I'm getting the new shaft through them, they are having it drop shipped to me. I also have a new strut that I bought from them. So when this is done I should be good.

Thanks to everyone for giving suggestions.

I took my swim platform off last weekend and noticed a problem with my strut bushing so it looks like I'm going to be doing this on an 2006 X-2. Any pictures you have would be greatly appreciated. I've found a couple of threads about around here about doing this on direct drive boats, but this is the only thread I came across dealing with a v-drive. I've got a call in to a mechanic we've used in the past to see what his m.o. is on this. I also talked with Eric at O.J. about what possible causes could be. When I bought my boat the previous owner delivered the drop in cooler the following spring and it had a dinged prop in it so this may be the result of the prop strike.

[wakescene]

rgardjr1,
It's not a difficult job to do the strut bearings, even if you are not seasoned at it.

The main reasons I know of for replacement are:
1 - regular wear. Straight usage will cause wearing. I redid mine at about 400 hours.
2 - running boat in gear OUT OF THE WATER. This will heat up the bearings due to dry friction and prematurely wear the bearings. Infact, it is not recommended to to anything other then move the shaft by hand when the boat is our of the water.
3 - prop strike. I don't have a lot of experience here but I would guess this would never be good for the bearings, let alone the prop, shaft, strut, coupler, trans, motor.

[FrankSchwab]

Once you get the strut/bearings and new propshaft installed, I'd follow the instructions attached to align the strut to the engine/transmission. I'd follow this set of instructions to repack the stuffing box with Gore-tex packing (or perhaps now would be a good time to invest in a PSS dripless seal.

Other than that, button'er up and go skiing.

[D. Newland]

Just did this yesterday and wanted to add a photo of the puller I made out of steel plate and 3" bolts to continue the resourcefulness of this thread. It's not the prettiest and I could have spent more time on the corners, but what is there was able to spin 360 degrees without contacting the fuel tank.

It looks like mine had been off before, so I wasn't expecting a fight. WD 40 a few hours before pull. I put a bit of pressure on all 4 bolts, then used a heat gun on the coupler. After about 3 minutes, it popped off loudly.

Other than the usual contortion needed to work on this boat and a bloody knuckle, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the shaft pull, strut bearing removal and dripless seal removal went, mostly thanks to this thread.

[D. Newland]

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