C&C 27 Association Forum

Guest

Replacement of Cutlass Bearing

Anyone have an idea on how to get the cutlass bearing out of the stut for a Mark 1 ?  The problem is that the shaft is directly in line with the rudder.  To take the shaft out you have to remove the rudder (completely).  Unfortunatey REIVER is on the hard stand right now, which makes dropping the rudder and shaft a non starter (I think the club would be a little unhappy if I was to create my own personal pot hole in the parking lot).

Any ideas?

Dave Beatty
REIVER
Trenton

davidww1

Member

Re: Replacement of Cutlass Bearing

Here's the disclaimer -- I've heard this described by a fellow I trust, but I've not done it myself (my prop is offset, so replacing the cutless bearing was much easier). According to him, you don't need to remove the rudder, just the prop.

When you disconnect a 27's prop shaft from the coupling on the aft end of the motor, it flops around quite a bit. The degree of 'flop' (or deflection) is usually sufficient to allow the propeller-less shaft to slide past the rudder.

Remembering how much my shaft waved around when disconnected it from the engine when I replaced my cutless bearing, I'm confident that you won't have much trouble. In the unlikely event there is a problem, you can reduce the amount of 'flop' required by dropping the rudder down to the pavement (which means only the shaft will be in the way, not the whole rudder). At that point, you'd only have to deflect the shaft by half the thickness of the rudder shaft (about 7/8") to get it out.

You might be interested in a tool called a Strut-Pro, found at <www.strutpro.com/>, which is supposed to do the job in situations like yours. It looks expensive but if it does the job without a lot of misery, it might be worth its price.

David Weatherston
"Towser", Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV

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David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV

Guest

Re: Replacement of Cutlass Bearing

Thanks Dave,

Problem is that I already tried that.
With the Mark 1 - everything is "inline".  With the shaft disconnected, I still can't get it past the rudder post (unless I put some significant pull to one side - which may damage the stut/hull joint).
I'll take a look at the tool you suggested, it may be the expensive option, but who knows.

Guest

Re: Replacement of Cutlass Bearing

For those of you following this querry, I just heard back from STRUT PRO - they have no distributers in Ontario, but will sell them directly to you.  Cost is USD$399.00 (roughly $500 CDN) and includes one set of shaft sleves.

Guest

Re: Replacement of Cutlass Bearing

My Mk1 is on  a cradle too.  I just jacked up the cradle and put blocks under it
until I had enough clearance to get the rudder out. Taking the rudder out is very simple.
Ralph Ainslie
Hyperion