Drive Shaft Packing

[skier_88]

That was my plan. I used that synthetic packing on the rudder of the Skier. It was pretty awesome stuff. Made me think the dripless OJ product would be a waste of money and also take a heck of a lot more time to change!

Now if I re-adjust it it should be good to go for many many years. I have it too tight. The steering is way tight under load, more so than normal. I'm guessing it is because my packing is too tight and not getting much lube. I may get a drip.... I forgot my tools for my quick 5 minute lap to start the season.

[martinarcher]

Now if I re-adjust it it should be good to go for many many years. I have it too tight. The steering is way tight under load, more so than normal. I'm guessing it is because my packing is too tight and not getting much lube. I may get a drip.... I forgot my tools for my quick 5 minute lap to start the season.

Yeah, I bet loosening it a bit will sort out the tight steering.

So how'd she run?

[skier_88]

Yeah, I bet loosening it a bit will sort out the tight steering.

So how'd she run?

AMAZING! I think after cleaning the whole fuel assembly it was much more responsive. Gonna be an exciting summer!!

[martinarcher]

Sweet!

[916Skier]

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0Rjn0JC4c-ewHOnsCQQEooIQ#Sacramento_River. 85 skier. Dripping too fast? Do i need to remove the center floor to tighten this? 

[formulaben]

Yep, that's way too much.  Take a couple packing wrenches and loosen the locking nut, then tighten the big nut a little.  If you can do this on the water even better.  Go a little at a time and get it down to around a drip every 10 seconds or so...enough drips that the nut doesn't get hot.  Warm is OK, but hot is too tight.

If that doesn't fix it then your packing is probably shot.

[916Skier]

12 hours ago, formulaben said:

Yep, that's way too much.  Take a couple packing wrenches and loosen the locking nut, then tighten the big nut a little.  If you can do this on the water even better.  Go a little at a time and get it down to around a drip every 10 seconds or so...enough drips that the nut doesn't get hot.  Warm is OK, but hot is too tight.

If that doesn't fix it then your packing is probably shot.

Ended up just pulling the old out and repacking with GTU. Two pieces came out so I put two back in. Gonna water test tomorrow before heading to lake Sunday 

[rakr]

I repacked mine last year. I got the nut hand tight, took it to the lake and it was dripping about once a second. I got the wrenches and slowly tightened to dripping about 2-3 every 10 seconds. I left it like that thinking I could tighten it up a bit at a time if needed. Got out this season, have run 15 hours or so, and it is dripping once every 25-30 seconds at idle. It appears that the packing is “moist” around the whole circumference.  It looks like the “range” of acceptable drip is one every 5 to one every 30, but would like to confirm every 30 is ok. 

questions: 

1. is that ok? I haven’t taken the nut off to see if there is wear on the shaft yet. 
2. Does the packing have “memory”, I.e. will it not reshape to a looser fit if I back the nut back a bit? I’m kind of hoping not to repack, but I’ll totally do it in lieu of getting a new shaft. 
 

thanks all!!!