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How to determine if cutlass bearing is bad

A

alaska_av8r

Contributing Member
"1986 29ft Cruisers twin crusa

"1986 29ft Cruisers twin crusader 270's borg warner v-drives: I am almost done cleaning up the engine room and wiring, I drained and refilled the v-drives according to the manual. The boat is up on blocks and prior to engaging the transmissions I sprayed the cutlass bearings in soapy water. However the bearing intermittently would emit a high pitch squeal so I disengaged the transmission. That is the first time I have heard this.

How do I tell if the cutlass needs replacing and is there a better way to turn the prop while out of water?"
 
"Tim, you can't run an inb

"Tim, you can't run an inboard on the ground. The flex of the hull will bind up your shafts. If you want to you can disconnect the shafts, after marking the flanges. Then you can check for cutless bearing play. Only reconnect the shafts after the boat is back in the water."
 
"thanks stu, this is the first

"thanks stu, this is the first time I have owned an inboard. With that being said, should I worry too much about the intermittent squeal which I only heard once.....or wait until I dip it in the water and if it persists then..."be worried""
 
"Tim, if you cooked the bearin

"Tim, if you cooked the bearing you would probably have caught the smell of burning rubber. Unfortunately, there is no real good way to check a cutlass bearing unless you disconnect the drive couplings to take the load off the shaft. Usually, and anyone who knows better feel free to correct me, even a worn cutless bearing doesn't give much trouble as the thrust of the prop pretty much takes up the play. The play is more obvious when backing down. Of course a really worn cutless will wipe out your shaft. Stu"
 
I didn't notice any burnt

I didn't notice any burnt rubber smell and shut it down right away. Hopefully in a week or so I will stick the boat in the water for a leak check and see how she does.

thanks again
 
One of mine started squeaking

One of mine started squeaking at low speed after I caught a line from a damn crab trap and it wrapped around the shaft in front. The only solution was to replace it.

Jeff
 
"another somewhat related ques

"another somewhat related question....it appears I have a dripless shaft, not sure what you call it but the output shaft going to the prop has a big rubber hose with clamps on it where the shaft exits the engine room....someone said since I will be putting my boat in and out of the water and not storing it on the water I would need to "burp" the stuffing box or whatever that thing is called.....??????? If so how do I do that?"
 
That looks like what I have.

That looks like what I have. Since I will be trailering my boat when it is not in use are there any special things I need to do..."burping" etc. I still don't know what he meant by burping...lol....
 
You shouldn't have to do a

You shouldn't have to do anything. Most dripless couplings either have a pressure water line to cool them or a vent hose connected to them to allow water to enter the coupling to keep things cool. Some do have bleeders and the air must be bled from them everytime you launch the boat. Stu
 
"okay that makes sense, I know

"okay that makes sense, I know there is not a water pressure hose attached, so I will look for the bleeder valve."
 
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