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Sand Bar, Bent prop


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Hey everyone, I know this is probably a repeat post and I apologize. 

 

Was cruising yesterday and realized I was on the edge of a sand bar, so I cut the throttle instantly. Might have been a minor amount of scraping on the bottom (I'm assuming the prop). After we were back in deep water, there was minor vibration when I got up to 32mph, but I think that was from a bent prop already. A few questions for y'all:

By using a bent prop, could I damage anything with the boat from the vibrations? The steering wheel is fine and doesn't vibrate when I am up to speed and planed out. 

 

Also, what do I look for on the fins when I take the boat out to check it today, or is it something I can look at in the water? 

Thank you for all the help. Any insight and info is greatly appreciated. 

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Highly recommend to get the prop fixed, not a great idea to run a bent prop out of balance.  They are brass and designed to bend so you do not damage your strut/drive shaft, etc... much cheaper to repair a prop than replace drive train components.  Think of this experience as a good excuse to buy another prop to have a spare.

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Thank you guys. I have a spare prop on deck, but I do not know how to put it on. I am not very good with tools and fixing things lol so I prob just have to take it somewhere eh?

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Remove cotter pin.

Slide a 2x4 between the hull and one of the props blades.  This holds the prop so you can turn the nut.

Loosen nut but no not take all the way off.  This way when the prop breaks loose it doesn't slide off and hit the ground.

Remove 2x4.

No prop puller needed.  Mini or Micro torch.  Heat up the hub of the prop between a couple of the blades, tap on the backside of the prop hub only (swing bow to stern) and it should come right off.

Don't loose the key stock.  Square piece of material that fits in the groove of the prop shaft and prop to prevent slipping. 

Put key stock in.

Slide prop on.  

Tighten nut a little.  Put 2x4 in to hold prop for final torquing.   

Put cotter pin back in.  

Edited by blk93jeepzj
clarification, again
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Location is Clarkston, MI 48348. If anyone is willing to help/teach, that would be very appreciated, as I don't want to screw anything up the first time lol. Thanks for everyone reaching out and helping. 

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2 hours ago, blk93jeepzj said:

Remove cotter pin.

Slide a 2x4 between the hull and one of the props blades.  This holds the prop so you can turn the nut.

Loosen nut but no not take all the way off.  This way when the prop breaks loose it doesn't slide off and hit the ground.

Remove 2x4.

No prop puller needed.  Mini or Micro torch.  Heat up the hub of the prop between a couple of the blades, tap on the backside of the prop hub only (swing bow to stern) and it should come right off.

Don't loose the key stock.  Square piece of material that fits in the groove of the prop shaft and prop to prevent slipping. 

Reverse steps and put the new prop on.  

You are not allowed near my boat ;)

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go buy a prop puller and do it yourself. if I can do it anyone can! Just pay attention when you pull the old one off so you'll know what to do to put the new one on.

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12 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

You are not allowed near my boat ;)

Updated for reinstall clarification.

Fine by me.  

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It is also a good idea to put prop on shaft snugly without key in notch and mark a line on the shaft where it meets front side of prop, slide off prop,put the key in the notch and replace prop and make sure the prop touches the line. If not you may have to file the key.   Prolly get a new nut and pin. My new prop came with directions.   It was easy to do and made a big difference in performance of my boat.

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I've never once needed a prop puller, if you get the concept of a harmonic puller you can almost always do it with very light taps of a hammer 

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On 5/8/2016 at 7:55 PM, t a said:

I've never once needed a prop puller, if you get the concept of a harmonic puller you can almost always do it with very light taps of a hammer 

I have a harmonic, and there was no light tapping........it took a pretty good beating to get that thing to go.  My dealer said this is normal, their harmonic puller looks like a mushroom from the beating it takes.  I tried the light tap tap tap at first, but it didn't get me anywhere.  After giving 'er a little it came off no problem.

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37 minutes ago, Sixer said:

I have a harmonic, and there was no light tapping........it took a pretty good beating to get that thing to go.  My dealer said this is normal, their harmonic puller looks like a mushroom from the beating it takes.  I tried the light tap tap tap at first, but it didn't get me anywhere.  After giving 'er a little it came off no problem.

I'm sure I've just been lucky, but I don't have a puller of any kind, I've removed 3 props without a puller by just tapping lightly with a hammer to get it to vibrate/hum as much as possible.  Never took longer than 30 seconds.  Longest prop was on there was for 3 years.

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Impressive!  I had a prop on for about a year, and had to hammer it for about 10 minutes (I tried lightly to start).  Ended up breaking the key and having to replace that.  Maybe I'm doing it wrong......:)

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Not a big fan of banging directly on a precision balanced piece of soft metal, but whatever works for you. I typically have to smack the side of my puller with authority a few times to get the prop off.

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I've changed 3 since 2011, one I hit a stump, 2nd I upgrade from 537 to 1235, 3rd I took that 1235 off and put 537 back on when selling my last boat.

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8 hours ago, Badger said:

Are you guys all pulling props just for fun on a Saturday afternoon?  It seems like there is a lot of it going on here.

I went back and forth between a couple props after damaging my primary prop, and have pulled props off a couple other boats for people. So I guess about 8 prop pulls in the last 3 years or so.

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On 5/6/2016 at 11:56 AM, blk93jeepzj said:

Mini or Micro torch. 

 

Pretty sure you lost him right here.

Come on crew, there are a bunch of guys not too far from Clarkston.

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