Shaft Seal

[Brian John]

I am trying to educate myself regarding my 2022 R-31. One issue I have recently become aware of is the shaft seal is leaking while sitting in the water of one drip every 15 seconds and while motoring 1 drop every 1.5 seconds.

I tried to loosen the jam nut with no luck, over 3 days I have used PB Blaster, tried to loosen the jam nut, applied PB Blaster, tried to loosen the jam nut sprayed again, tried as noted several more times over a few days.

At this point, I am up against a wall and looking for advice.

 

[Rode Trip]

They can be difficult, I just went through this with my new to me boat. Packing was leaking excessively on survey and I had no idea when if ever the packing had been replaced. PB blaster, hammering on a wrench, using all my body weight, even a torch to heat it up...nothing was working. Finally ended up needing a 3 foot breaker bar on the lock nut wrench and my foot and body weight against the wrench on the packing nut for it to break free. Just keep at it, it will eventually come loose.

Be careful if you have the cooling line attachment, hard to find them in bronze at that size so they are usually made of brass. Mine snapped off early in the process when my foot bumped it because brass is 40% zinc, and the galvanic corrosion between the bronze stuffing box and the brass fitting eats away the zinc and leaves you with a brittle copper fitting. I replaced mine with stainless steel and a liberal dose of tef-gel on the threads.

I repacked with Duramax packing, and my intention when launching is to adjust to about 1 or 2 drops a minute, but monitoring the temp of the gland when running to make sure whatever my adjustment is that it's staying cool. Some people have been able to use duramax without any dripping and still keep it cool.

 

[AGLyme]

When I bought my new to me 31cb, I experienced a similar issue. A drop every 20 seconds. I spoke with my Marina owner who can be described as a boat maintenance genius… and has scads of experience on inboard diesel engines and gear… a man of few words.
He brought his wrenches and stared at it for 5 minutes, and said “learn to live with it, it’s lubricating, healthy and working well”.
I did replace the 11 yo old bilge pump with a brand new Rule… for piece of mind.

 

[AGLyme]

There is some info on the drip issue on the “As the Prop Turns” YouTube video… see the “Departures and Arrivals” video… 23.50 minutes in…

 

[Headlee]

We have C28 and I needed a Hex Jaw pipe wrench to get a good grip on the locking nut. It then took all my weight to break it loose. I got the wrench off Amazon. I watched one of the Ranger Tug videos on this. Below are the details of the wrench. I find the tightening and loosening of the nut and the resulting drip rate to be very touchy and need to make a lot of adjustments. Before I loosened the nut it was dripping at about one drip per 15 seconds without the engine running. I now have it at about one drip per 30 seconds without running, but need to make more adjustments to maintain that. There is merit in the approach of just living with it.

RIDGID 31305 Model E-110 9.5" Offset Hex Jaw Pipe Wrench, Red, Made in The USA​

Visit the RIDGID Store

 

[DaveB]

I also had an excessive drip rate and bought the wrenches, PB Blaster, and all my effort to no avail. Next trip to boat I brought a pair of 3' cheaters (1" EMT conduit that fit over wrench handles. Nervously applied more pressure and got the nuts loose! I cleaned nuts and threads and tightened packing to just stop drip. I check the packing nut every trip after running for any temperature rise. Cooling line does a great job of cooling and lubricating the packing. My greatest concern was salt water dripping and then traveling up the spinning shaft during rough water use being sprayed around in the engine compartment. Perhaps I have an overactive imagination but all the electrical connections in the engine compartment...

 

[tlkenyon]

A cure for the drip/spray.....

IMG_8623

• tlkenyon
• Jul 3, 2018

Cheap packing gland water spray deflector, half-gallon milk jug trimmed to fit.

 

[Brian John]

I also had an excessive drip rate and bought the wrenches, PB Blaster, and all my effort to no avail. Next trip to boat I brought a pair of 3' cheaters (1" EMT conduit that fit over wrench handles. Nervously applied more pressure and got the nuts loose! I cleaned nuts and threads and tightened packing to just stop drip. I check the packing nut every trip after running for any temperature rise. Cooling line does a great job of cooling and lubricating the packing. My greatest concern was salt water dripping and then traveling up the spinning shaft during rough water use being sprayed around in the engine compartment. Perhaps I have an overactive imagination but all the electrical connections in the engine compartment...

I broke a 24" breaker bar today and they did not budge. I think I need help from someone to hold the stationary wrench while I apply maximum leverage on the jam nut. MAYBE?