By Steve Smith
Westerly Merlin, Marlion
I have just changed the stern gland seal shaft seal in our Merlin. Originally it was a Volvo Penta type seal which needed bleeding each time after drying out. So, I have replaced it with a Vetus self- bleed and greasing point.
This task required pressing the shaft off the Vetus coupling, which was successfully accomplished using long sockets. Then came the problem of refitting the shaft to the coupling without using a hammer, as I didn’t want to damage the gearbox rear bearing.
I made up a puller in 10mm bar steel incorporating a split collar for the shaft (Figure 1). Then using this to pull against, without impacting the back bearings in the gearbox. The shaft could then be neatly pulled into the coupling using the threaded rod, and nuts. Worked perfectly!
