J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Shaft Coupling Movement - Anybody have it?

I replaced the shaft seal (PSS Dripless Seal) this past winter and have followed the directions that suggest the bellows be compressed 3/4" by the stainless collar. I've been having problems with some significant leakage and have determined that the coupling coming out of the transmission moves fore & aft at least an inch, causing the shaft to move and water to leak in. I don't think the transmission end should move at all, and suspect there may be an issue with that. I had the clutch rebuilt 2 years ago. Can somebody check that the location of the coupling out of the transmission is fixed or movable fore & aft? Maybe use a lever and try to move the shaft. I hope I don't need to remove the tranny, but ....

I'll be racing on a C&C35 this weekend so will be off-line Friday until late Sunday. Hopefully somebody can let me know about this when I get back.

Thanks,
Bill

Bill-also did the PSS drill this last winter and am not seeing the fore-aft displacement on the shaft you are describing. The seal is working well with no leaking (cost was enormous-another story). I had some shaft deformation(flattening/grooving from wear that almost caused me to have to replace the shaft) but managed to get a solid enough grip on the transmission coupling to mitigate. Let me know what other info I can give to assist.

Thanks for the info - unfortunately the answer I was suspecting but didn't want to hear. I'll be pulling the transmission tomorrow night after racing.

This will be done while in the water. I built a brace that will screw to the aft engine bulkhead and built up the surface with a wood block so it presses aft against the stainless collar on the shaft seal. This will allow me to loosen the allen screws in the shaft seal collar and slide the shaft aft when I remove the bolts from the coupling at the transmission. I'll use EB Green tape around the collar joint as insurance while the shaft is loosened. I should have the fixed transmission back from Kiwi Marine Services by Friday to reinstall so I don't miss the weekend!

I'm interested in hearing how much this runs you.

I've had prop vibration problems, especially in reverse, or transitioning from forward to reverse. I've heard clutch slippage suggested as a possible issue, and I was wondering what having the transmission rebuilt would cost.

The bill was $775. They replaced the output shaft bearings and resurfaced the cone clutch. There were metal fragments in the transmission oil from where the bearings had failed. I think this was aggravated because the shaft coupling flange was not tight and the shaft "hammered" the transmission when shifting from reverse to forward. I've since dimpled the shaft with a drill so the 2 bolts that hold the coupling flange on the shaft can seat better.

I took out and reinstalled the tranny myself and build a wood brace to hold the shaft seal collar in place so this could be done without hauling the boat. It took less than an hour to reinstall the transmission, hook everything up and test it. No more shaft seal leaks. We were able to race tonight.. until the race committee called off the race due to an outbound tanker in Narragansett Bay.