How Do I Remove The Prop Shaft on my 23 XTI???

[Creed]

I think I bent my prop shaft. Can someone tell me the steps to remove the shaft? I assume I start at the tranny coupler but I am not sure. What steps should I take in what order. Any tricks here? Any special tools needed?

Thanks!!

[Molarbu]

Uncouple the transmission and remove the propeller. You may need a gear puller to remove the coupler from the tranny end of the shaft as it's held on with a morse taper and a keyway. It's harder to get off than you'd think. Same with the prop. My rudder was bent at the time I removed mine so it came off as well. I imagine you'll have to get the rudder out of the way by either removing it or turning it may get it out of the way enough. I had to remove the strut also. If you bent your shaft without bending anything else I'd be surprised. In my case I had to replace the strut, rudder, and prop. I took the shaft to a local machine shop and they straightened it to within .001" of true for $60. Good luck!

[Creed]

Uncouple the transmission and remove the propeller. You may need a gear puller to remove the coupler from the tranny end of the shaft as it's held on with a morse taper and a keyway. It's harder to get off than you'd think. Same with the prop. My rudder was bent at the time I removed mine so it came off as well. I imagine you'll have to get the rudder out of the way by either removing it or turning it may get it out of the way enough. I had to remove the strut also. If you bent your shaft without bending anything else I'd be surprised. In my case I had to replace the strut, rudder, and prop. I took the shaft to a local machine shop and they straightened it to within .001" of true for $60. Good luck!

[Creed]

What about the stuffing box stuff. There are the two adjusting nuts, the flexible bellows hose....what needs to happen here? Dis-assemble? When everything is un-done do you just pull the shaft out the back of the boat from the underside?

Thanks Again!

[99response]

First thing you need to do is drop the rudder. Then loosen the stuffing box nuts. Block the prop (do not remove yet) with a piece of wood. Unbolt the coupler and slide the shaft backwards. There is a 1 1/16" nut on the end of shaft inside the coupler, and an allen screw you must loosen. You may need a special tool to get that nut off depending on the clearance you have, skidim sells a special socket for this.

With the big nut off you can then use the transmission coupler as a gear puller, I put an impact socket between the shaft and the tranny coupler and then use 4 long fine threaded, lubricated bolts to pull the coupler off the shaft. You can then pull the shaft out of the boat.

I think every time I've seen a bent shaft the strut was also bent so you may want to replace that while you're at it, and also inspect the HDS box closely for leaks caused by the impact. The coupler is also a one time use so make sure to replace that while you're at it. And of course when it is all back together you need to perform an alignment between the tranny and coupler to .003".

-Chris