[C320-list] Cutless bearing replacement

[Graeme Clark]

NoWell the short answer to that Joe, is that I am too tight to spend $50 on collets and $50 on international shipping when I can build the whole thing for under $50 at home.  They're not rocket science!  Also I am making it dual purpose so that I can use it as a prop puller as well!

Having said that I am making a big assumption here - namely that the fact that the bearing has two retaining grub screws means that it isnt going to be THAT tight a fit in the bracket!

We shall see

Cheers

Graeme


> On 5 Apr 2022, at 18:16, Joe Luciano <jnluciano at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> 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.
>