2000 MerCruiser 350 inboard with V-Drive.
This weekend I had more people in the boat than ever (9 people). We were tubing and after awhile we started hearing a dull rattle when in gear. We pulled the boat out of the water and I could hand turn the prop and hear this dull rattle right away. The drive shaft had too much play inside the shaft strut that holds it to the back-bottom of the boat (the strut is about 8 inches long or so). I got to looking I saw two internal metal sleeves which I assume are the cutlass bearings (each was about 2-3 inches long) were loose and I could slide them along the drive shaft on the portion of the drive shaft that extends towards the drive. One of the two bearings looked like it belonged down inside in the shaft strut (I could tell this by the wear on it), and the other bearing did not look work at all and looked like it had never been down inside the shaft strut. I slid the "worn" bearing down the shaft and into the strut, and tightened the set screw (that had apparently worked itself loose) to hold the bearing in place.
Now - the first set screw on the shaft strut was near the upper end of the strut, and this is the one that I re-tightened after sliding the bearing inside of it. I noticed that the other (lower) end of the strut had a small hole that would hold another setscrew. The setscrew was not there, and I'm not sure if it should be? If it should be there, do I need to try to slide one of the two bearings down into the bracket to give it something to screw into?
I guess my main question was about the cutlass bearings. One is still able to slide along the drive shaft (i.e. it's just loose and around the shaft). One is now inside the shaft strut and held in place by the setscrew. And finally, there is what appears to be a missing setscrew at the lower end of the shaft strut.
This weekend I had more people in the boat than ever (9 people). We were tubing and after awhile we started hearing a dull rattle when in gear. We pulled the boat out of the water and I could hand turn the prop and hear this dull rattle right away. The drive shaft had too much play inside the shaft strut that holds it to the back-bottom of the boat (the strut is about 8 inches long or so). I got to looking I saw two internal metal sleeves which I assume are the cutlass bearings (each was about 2-3 inches long) were loose and I could slide them along the drive shaft on the portion of the drive shaft that extends towards the drive. One of the two bearings looked like it belonged down inside in the shaft strut (I could tell this by the wear on it), and the other bearing did not look work at all and looked like it had never been down inside the shaft strut. I slid the "worn" bearing down the shaft and into the strut, and tightened the set screw (that had apparently worked itself loose) to hold the bearing in place.
Now - the first set screw on the shaft strut was near the upper end of the strut, and this is the one that I re-tightened after sliding the bearing inside of it. I noticed that the other (lower) end of the strut had a small hole that would hold another setscrew. The setscrew was not there, and I'm not sure if it should be? If it should be there, do I need to try to slide one of the two bearings down into the bracket to give it something to screw into?
I guess my main question was about the cutlass bearings. One is still able to slide along the drive shaft (i.e. it's just loose and around the shaft). One is now inside the shaft strut and held in place by the setscrew. And finally, there is what appears to be a missing setscrew at the lower end of the shaft strut.
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