As much as there are other possible options below, (radial vibration being notable) good on you for doing the video and is a great go-to in times of need.
I'm surprised the boat yard didn't have a tool for this. My place has a device that looks like a giant pair of pliers where the arms are pulled together by a threaded rod and the one jaw has a slot for the shaft and rests against the prop, and the other jaw rests against the shaft end, then they simply turn the threaded rod that pulls the two arms, and jaws, together. If I take off the nuts, they can remove the prop in 20 seconds.
It is a known thing in engineering that once you have some force on a puller,radial vibrations will make the prop or whatever release.A few blows with a copper hammer or brass drift and hard hammer (not to damage the prop) on the sides of the propeller boss would probably have saved using so much force.
A 2, or 3-jaw gear puller does the same thing (on smaller props, like this)...now, if you're talking about 32 or 36 (or larger props), now that's a different story...(though, they do make prop pullers for that, too). A touch of heat from a 'cold' propane torch will help A LOT, too!
thanks for your demonstration. If you loosen the nuts and put the counter nut back on,is it possible for the prop to fall off when you start the engine shorly.maybe both directions?
Hy I am from Pakistan I am a professional prpppeller maker and wory at Karachi Pakistan , your wory so amazing you know we pull down the prpppeller with hammer gun that work is so hard i like your work amazing😘
There are hammers on some guns but that doesn't make sense for pulling a propeller. I guess you mean a sliding hammer. Even if it works, a sliding hammer only pulls on the propeller without pushing on the shaft so the whole force of pulling is transmitted to the shaft. I would never do that since the force is then transmitted to whatever axial bearing you have, often one inside the reverse gear which definitely isn't made for that force. In simple words, pulling a propeller with a sliding hammer is a large risk of damaging the reverse gear. Don't do it, use a puller that pushes against the shaft instead.
tried a conventional pulley puller and a ton of heat on mine and it wont budge.. going to strip the pulley puller bolt before it moves. Thanks for this tip. will try this out!
If the propeller nut itself was backed towards the rudder, by a short cylinder onto a backplate on the studs shown, the propeller nut itself could have been used to pull the propeller. Actually one could tighten the system and then wait..........then strike the back of the prop with a hammer and that small impulse would be enough to move it.
Thanks for you comment. Yes tools are very hard to find in Portugal, and much of what is available is very poor quality. Anyone who suggests you use a steering wheel puller has never tried to remove a boat prop. The overlap of the blades will prevent many pullers from working. You can't pull on the blades as they will just snap off! Heat is not an option as 1. you will damage the fibreglass of the hull just above you 2. In Portugal at you will soon find yourself in JAIL, for using a naked flame outside, very strict fire regulations as it's so hot and dry. Wen you are cruising on a small boat you have to be very mindful of what tools you can carry, space and weight are very much a premium.
Here is something to think about. He said that if you back up one nut with another or more nuts, you have a stronger nun. I doubt that, as if you tighten the nuts together, one will try to lift the other and so only the thread face on one nut will be taking the final force. Anyway, the thickness of a nut is designed so that the thread will be as strong as the thinnest inner diameter of the thread on the rod itself before it strips the thread! Another discussion is about on whether the narrower, thinner locking nut should go first or last, as by tightening the last nut which in this video was the thinner nut, then it will tend to lift the thicker wider nut off its working surfaces and so the thinner nut will take all the force. Should the thinner nut go on first and the thicker nut last?
you could leave the jack out and let the end plate pull up against the shaft. When you tighten the nuts, tap the prop with a hammer and it usually comes loose. If not, tighten the nuts more and tap again. Of course you would use a solid plate with 3 holes drilled aft of the shaft. Tighten eve
Thanks for the comment. Yes sometimes that could work. However with a large shaft and a long taper it should take a lot of force to release the prop. Using cheap studding and soft nuts the chances of the threads stripping would be high, a good thump on the end plate may shock the taper loose but the jack works with ease. As you can see in the video it took quite a bit of force to break the taper and we had destroyed a 3 leg puller in the first attempt.
Not knowing where oil pick up for jack is located,,,good idea is to have pumping mechanism on bottom...it appeared you did not full pumping on each stroke
one thing not mentioned or not thought of, put a piece of brass/copper in between jack base and threaded end of shaft, you burr those threads over (mushroom) game over ....
If you look at the shaft you will see that the end is turned down so you don't damage the threads. Remember you may have to do this underwater and holding a packing piece in place would make things harder.
That you for your comment, it really helps us to make these videos. Yes you could, or any good 3 leg large puller would do, if you have one to hand. Many times when cruising you have very limited equipment available, so you need to be inventive. We are currently in French Guyana with the boat and finding any tools that we need is almost impossible.
Good idea, shame on you for not using proper spanner, having worked in shipyard for a long time, we used to say, "tight nut, loose prop, loose nut, tight prop". Your nut was loose, hence tight prop.
Not at all. What you have to remember finding tools in this part of Portugal and many other remote places is difficult and very time consuming. We don't have a Big Box Store just round the corner.
