[C320-list] Cutless bearing replacement

[Joe Luciano]

Better yet, why not contact Strut-Pro and simply purchase the specific split collets for a 1” shaft?  Then you can use them directly for the tool you wish to make.  Those are the only precision required pieces for the tool to work.  I bought the Strut-Pro tool about a year ago and used it last summer to replace my cutlass bearing last summer.  Worked like a champ.  Tool cost was about $350 as I recall.  But, they will sell just the split collets for various shaft sizes.

Joe Luciano
Second Wind
#1044

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 5, 2022, at 9:51 AM, Graeme Clark <cg at skyflyer.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> I am making my own removal tool (as I am on the other side of the pond, so loaner program is not an option!)
> 
> I thought the bearing was 4 inches long, for a 1 inch shaft with an outside diameter of 1-1/4 inch so I ordered a suitable piece of steel tube and cut it lengthwise so that this will go either side of the shaft and then I will use this to push out the old bearing.
> 
> My own boat is still in the water, being hauled out at the end of the month, so I tried it for size on  a friend’s C320. Given that he doesn't need his bearing replaced, this was limited to just sliding the two halves of the ‘extractor tube’ along the shaft until it touched the bearing.
> 
> Now it seemed to me that the overall 1-1/4 inch outside diameter of the tube is actually too large to fit into the “p-bracket” (shaft support bracket that contains the cutless bearing).
> 
> So thats easy enough to solve, i can get a thinner tube with a wall thickness of just 1/16 inch and thus an overall outside diameter of 1-1/8”
> 
> BUT - is the bearing itself actually smaller?  Did Catalina change the spec at all (my boat is ’96, my friend’s is 99)
> 
> Obviously i want to pre-order the bearing, ready for when my boat is hauled out, so I need to get it correct. Its going to be expensive to have her sat on the hard whilst I wait for a re-delivery of a wrongly ordered item!
> 
> If anyone on this list actually has the removal tool in their possession, could they send me a photo and better still measure the outside diameter of the extraction piece.
> 
> All other info gratefully received.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Graeme Clark
> #366, 1996
> “Jaskar”, Poole, England.