Cutlass bearing replacement Sun Odyssey DS 42

[mallorcaman]

Hello all,

My first post on here. I maintain a 42DS and am struggling with the cutlass bearing removal. The similar post re: the SO35 helped a litttle, but not a lot!
Does anybody have experience of doing this on this particular model?
The bearing appears to be rubber/nylon, so I wouldn`t expect it to be epoxied in but it doesn`t want to budge in either direction.
(I get the impression it can thoretically come out either way)
Having said that, when I look through the grubscrew holes I can see what looks like stainless steel between the bronze of the p- bracket and the shaft. Some sort of sleeve, not visible at the ends? Can`t say I have ever seen such a thing.
Removal of the shaft appears to involve removal of the rudder and associated lifting costs, which are substantial so I would be grateful for any advice before going down this costly route.

It would be very helful to know:

1. Is there any point heating it?
2. Can it come out forwards as well as backwards?
3. Or do I just have to do it the hard way - remove rudder and shaft then hack it out?

I prey for the voice of experience to answer me!

[gene]

If it is like my SO40 then you have a strut with a cutlass bearing in it. The bearing is bronze sleeve with a rubber grooved bearing inside. Set screws lock it in place. A proper boat yard will have a puller that will do the job without removing the shaft. I have a poor picture of one on my old web site. Removing the shaft is not a bad idea however as you can clean up the shaft surface which will make the new bearing last longer. I just pulled the shaft loose on my boat to put in a PSS shaft seal and cleaned the bearing surface on the shaft at the same time. A yard had just put in a new cutlass bearing a few months ago using the puller mentioned above, but they couldn't clean the shaft surface properly. I would think you could remove the shaft without removing the rudder. The shaft on my boat was tapered and held in place with a nut on the end inside the coupling. Removing it using a puller is preferred over using a slide hammer.

My boats page with picutures of shaft seal. santosha.info/index.html

Picture of puller on my old boats site.
sailors.hollosite.com/Boats/Now___Zen/Projects/Cutlass_Bearing_Puller/cutlass_bearing_puller.html

[mallorcaman]

UPDATE: It`s out! Got it really hot with a heatgun and then used a piece of metal tube to knock it forward out of the p-bracket. Then cut it off the shaft with a hacksaw.
Just hope I can get a replacement easily!