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VDrive Packing Nut Shaft Nut Dripping - Packing Seal


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2010 Malibu VRide 23 LCR320 motor

Here is another thread on this. I have read all the other threads and I still need some assistance and thought maybe someone had some newer info. Tools etc. 

I dropped my boat in the water (still on the trailer) after winter layup. I started the boat all seemed good then I see water in the bottom of the hull. I finally tracked it to the Packing Nut and water was really coming out of there... even after I turned the boat off. (Is the packing totally gone) Naturally I was freaking out. 

I read and read and phoned a friend. So I have a general idea how to do this. I order the 1 7/8” wrench from York.... but it doesn’t fit on either side of the packing.. fits the nut but is too long.  I have almost zero room to try and loosen the nut because of my vdrive hoses.. and those things are the most awful things in the world to try and pull off. I would just like to give it a turn and see if that helps. I can stand dripping or even a little more than the normal 1 every 10 sec... but not what i was seeing. I have a video I took with my phone if anyone wants to see. 

 

Any and all help is appreciated. 

Edited by DylanR
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I recently did mine and it was 3/16" PTFE flax packing.  If you haven't removed the old packing you can gently tighten it up and see how it goes.  Keep in min the shaft packing will swell with water, so it is normal that first time out for the year it will leak a little more than normal...but it sounds like not to this degree?

Read all 3 pages here.  You can rotate the drive shaft to get the wrenches aligned with the nut and then loosen it.  Yes, it helps to temporarily remove the ballast pumps and/or water hoses from their fittings to make more room.  It's not a lot of fun but you'll get it, just be patient.

Edited by formulaben
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Are you sure that a 2010 has a shaft seal that is packed? I thought that boat would have a dripless shaft seal that doesn't require packing. In that case, usually it's just a dirty seal that can be cleaned out.

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6 hours ago, boardjnky4 said:

Are you sure that a 2010 has a shaft seal that is packed? I thought that boat would have a dripless shaft seal that doesn't require packing. In that case, usually it's just a dirty seal that can be cleaned out.

He has the shaft seal that needs to be packed. Dylan, if the heat gun trick or the channel lock option we talked about doesn’t work then you may have to get violent with it. Like @csleaver suggested you may have to smack it with a punch or preferably a brass drift which will do less damage to the nut. Unless the nut was cranked on with a wrench, it shouldn’t take too much effort to loosen it with the drift. I forgot about using a crows foot for a ratchet, but I haven’t seen one of those for sale anywhere in a while. You’ve got my number. Bill

 

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My original packing was pretty much shot last year.  I replaced it with the GFO stuff.  Breaking apart the nut from the shaft for the first time was a knucklebuster.  I managed to do it with one of those special wrenches, and a large crescent wrench.  The GFO stuff still leaks and setting the drip rate is slightly easier now, but I feel like I'm constantly watching it.  I'm not a fan of wet bilges, so I keep pumping out the water that pools in the center locker.  Anyways, I've had it with that, it's coming out next week in favor of a dripless system. 

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4 hours ago, saxton15 said:

My original packing was pretty much shot last year.  I replaced it with the GFO stuff.  Breaking apart the nut from the shaft for the first time was a knucklebuster.  I managed to do it with one of those special wrenches, and a large crescent wrench.  The GFO stuff still leaks and setting the drip rate is slightly easier now, but I feel like I'm constantly watching it.  I'm not a fan of wet bilges, so I keep pumping out the water that pools in the center locker.  Anyways, I've had it with that, it's coming out next week in favor of a dripless system. 

The hardest part of this process will be getting the flange off of the shaft. If you don't have the special tool that comes with a "new" shaft you can use an appropriately sized socket and some longer bolts to draw the flange off of the shaft. Reassembly was painless.

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As much of a pain as it is to change the packing, installing a "dripless" system does not sound like a fun project.  Where do you tap into the water supply?

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4 hours ago, wdr said:

The hardest part of this process will be getting the flange off of the shaft. If you don't have the special tool that comes with a "new" shaft you can use an appropriately sized socket and some longer bolts to draw the flange off of the shaft. Reassembly was painless.

What are the bolt sizes I should use to seperate the couplers?    Boat is up at the cottage so I want to get some before I get there.

This is the install guide I've been looking over: http://skidim.blogspot.ca/2008/10/oj-dripless-shaft-seal-installation.html

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I had some 3/8 threaded rod from another project I used. That way I didn’t have to worry about running out of thread. Make sure you bring along some fairly substantial washers so it will be easier to turn the nuts on instead of the faces of the flanges. The Allen set screw for the shaft flange nut was 1/8 IIRC, bring the set JIC. The shaft flange nut was somewhere between 7/8 and 1 1/8, bring your whole socket set JIC. The shaft is 1 1/8, but the actual OD of the shaft where the shaft nut screws on is like 3/4. I used as much of the shaft thread as I could to pull the flange off. 1- I didn’t want to mess up the $450 shaft threads, 2- that thing is going to come screaming off and I didn’t want my $600 prop to smack the rudder. 😡 Hind sight being 20/20 it was harder for me than it had to be to separate the VD output flange from the shaft flange. I pried with a putty knife when I should of just wrapped the prop with a rag and given it a quick twist to separate it. My pain someone else’s gain. You will have to draw the prop shaft back to slide on the dripless housing. Be careful with the seal. I installed the housing first and then the seal. You will need snap ring pliers for the seal clip. The install guide is good, except it doesn’t talk about all of the cussing, bruising, blood, sweat and tears involved when working on a VD instead of a DD. 

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An after thought. When you install the seal, if it spins in the housing pull it back off and apply a generous amount of marine grade silicone. All I had to replace was just the shaft seal on dripless unit. The OD of the replacement seal from OJ was slightly smaller than the ID of the housing. So of course I had to repeat the job after the fact. Live and learn. Ratcheting box end wrenches were a life saver!

Edited by wdr
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Well I had just bought the one wrench and realize that I would more than likely need two after watching this YouTube video...

 

 

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Ok at this point I’m getting pretty frustrated... I got the second wrench. Followed the instructions to the video (put wrenches on and press down... hard.)  and still can’t get the nuts to budge. 

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That is a great video showing the process.

Easiest way is - When you got both wrenches on, you need to move the handles towards each other.  Put them on so the thin nut's wrench will turn it clockwise towards the hull when you move the handles towards each other (As shown in the video).   I do realize there is a lot less room to work in the boat.   Make sure your fingers aren't between the wrench handles & squeeze them together - if needed, use a c-clamp to bring the handles together.

I've been running the nearly dripless packing for 8 years & have had to adjust it twice.  Much easier on my DD.

 

Edited by wienrdog
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formulaben
3 hours ago, wienrdog said:

That is a great video showing the process.

Easiest way is - When you got both wrenches on, you need to move the handles towards each other.  Put them on so the thin nut's wrench will turn it clockwise towards the hull when you move the handles towards each other (As shown in the video).   I do realize there is a lot less room to work in the boat.   Make sure your fingers aren't between the wrench handles & squeeze them together - if needed, use a c-clamp to bring the handles together.

I've been running the nearly dripless packing for 8 years & have had to adjust it twice.  Much easier on my DD.

I've seen this verbiage before and no offense to @wienrdog but it's a bad way to explain it because no matter if you are loosening or tightening, this would apply.  Imagine a wrench at the 9 o'clock position on the large nut; if you put a 2nd wrench onto the smaller nut at the 12 o'clock position and "move the handles toward each other" something happens...now do do the same with the 2nd wrench at the 6 o'clock position and the opposite will happen, but in both cases the wrenches are moving towards each other.  Might be what's happening with @DylanR.  It can be confusing given that you're above and behind the nut and almost doing it blind.

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