Misaligned prop shaft

[Mary Mac]

Mary,
I've been reading your transmission saga with great interest. You may have seen my recent post, that I am having an identical issue with my Paragon. I am considering two options for the rebuild and was hoping you could share how things turned out with the rebuild? It is apparent that we are dealing with museum pieces and a collection of skilled curators who can repair them and supply parts. I'm hoping to pull the Paragon this weekend and ship it south (from Juneau) and also hoping to learn some lessons from the prop shaft alignment problem. Thanks in advance for any updates on the Paragon. Tango 75. Dave D'.

Hi Dave, I got the parts from Jim at Federal Marine:

James Aspel
Federal Marine Transmissions Inc
5310 East Avenue
Countryside, IL 60525   USA
phone  708-352-2200

He suggested a rebuild by Jim McNeilly who is Edmonds, Washington. I talked to him on the phone several times while I was trying to remove the transmission. He is very helpful and knowledgeable. I can PM you his contact info if needed.

I had such a hard time getting it removed from the engine that I had the mechanic who removed it do the rebuild. He said he is familiar with these.

There is no manual that explains the rebuild, so its best to have someone who knows the transmission do it. Jim at Federal will tell you all about this if you call him. He and Jim McNeilly have extensive knowledge and I would recommend them both.

The mechanic who did the rebuild partially re-installed it and I went to help him finish the install. It did go into both forward and reverse gear, but made such an awful noise that I did not continue to run it.

Last Friday, I towed it to a boatyard to get it looked at and possibly hauled. I haven't heard back from them yet.

Dave, I'll PM you my number in case you want to call or text about it.

I'll keep you all posted!

towtoboatyard.JPG (186.14 KiB) Viewed 9235 times

[SailingChris]

Hi Mary just a thought. If your mechanic needed to rekey the shaft sometimes that can put it off center especially if the hub was worn. It did not appear from the video that the shaft is bent just that it's origin is off center.

So if the shaft is off-center in the hub because of a larger key, would it be worth filing the key down so it would allow the hub to fit properly on the taper (seat securely on the taper)?? Sounds like it would be worth trying, at least as an interim measure.

Chris Campbell

[Mary Mac]

Hi Mary just a thought. If your mechanic needed to rekey the shaft sometimes that can put it off center especially if the hub was worn. It did not appear from the video that the shaft is bent just that it's origin is off center.

So if the shaft is off-center in the hub because of a larger key, would it be worth filing the key down so it would allow the hub to fit properly on the taper (seat securely on the taper)?? Sounds like it would be worth trying, at least as an interim measure.

Chris Campbell

Yes, that makes sense to me also. Just heard from the yard and they say the shaft is definitely bent. I don't know how it got bent, because it was straight before. Haulout soon!