strut bearing replacement
Yes, you have to remove the prop shaft to access the strut bearing. The hardest part is to get the coupleing off of the engine end of the shaft. You either remove this coupler or remove the prop & pull the engine! I have owned 3 Ericson's & worked on 2 Catalina's for friends and have yet to be successful at removing the coupleing!! It seizes to the shaft very well. I've tried Liquid Wrench for 2 weeks, made a special puller, heated with an acetylene torch till RED hot (VERY DANGEROUS, I don't recommend trying it!!!) with NO luck. Have ended up cutting the shaft with a Saws All. On some boats this is not a big problem as you may have enough room to cut 2 " off the shaft, have a machine shop cut a new keyway & dimple the shaft for set screws. The other option is to cut the coupleing in half. The easy way to do this is to drill a series of 3/8 dia. holes and then remove the remaining material with a burr & air motor or Roto Zip. A new shaft is $175.00 $200.00 in Michigan. The coupling is about $60.00 from marinepartssource.com. Once you have the shaft out it's really quite easy. Take a hacksaw, remove the blade and insert inside bearing, reattach the frame with the blade in "upside down", and CAREFULLY cut through the bearing. When you have split the bearing it taps out easily. Hopefully someone else has a secret on how to get the coupler off, as I would sure like to find an easier way!! Is your cutlass bearing really that bad? Good luck and let me know how you made out!! Bud E-34 "Escapade"