Tricks for Propeller removal

[Sony2000]

With the engine out the shipright couldn't undo the stuffing box. So he has asked me to bring him the shaft while the boat is on its trailer. I have a good puller with three fingers to grab the back of the prop and the screw will bear down on the end of the shaft. To help it break loose, should I add penetrating oil, heat up the shaft, or the prop hub, and what else to help it seperate after many years, from the shaft?

[edwardc]

Kroil to penetrate, and heat the hub. Not the shaft. You want the hub to expand more than the shaft to help loosen it.

If you're using a torch, be ready to put out the fire when the penetrating oil ignites. No big deal, but be ready for it.

[old-sailer]

Throw my 2 cents in here... I use the pencil of graphite you use on the spark plug threads whipping it on the shaft and the threads for the nut so it won't seize on the next time. The castle nuts and cotter key hold it on so the graphite doesn't cause an issue just allows easier removal next time.

With the engine out the shipright couldn't undo the stuffing box. So he has asked me to bring him the shaft while the boat is on its trailer. I have a good puller with three fingers to grab the back of the prop and the screw will bear down on the end of the shaft. To help it break loose, should I add penetrating oil, heat up the shaft, or the prop hub, and what else to help it seperate after many years, from the shaft?

[CalebD]

When we removed our prop a few months ago it had been on the shaft for at least 10 years but more likely up to 40+ years. We had also cut our shaft in half and were working at a workbench with a vice.
We torqued up the 3 bolts on the prop puller as tight as we could get it to go, but no joy. What finally sprung it was some 'persuasion' from a hammer.
I'd try the Kroil/PB Blaster idea first but this will require lots of patience as it does take time for those products to work.
If that does not work I'd move to the heat treatment mentioned here.
If that does not work there is always gentle 'persuasion'.
Good luck.

Picture of the high tech prop puller we used.

[Sony2000]

Great ideas. I'll give it another go tomorrow before the snow storm.

[old-sailer]

SNOW STORM.... wash your mouth out...!!

Great ideas. I'll give it another go tomorrow before the snow storm.

[Carl-T705]

I know this sounds corny and outdated, but it works. Heat the prop and sweat the prop/shaft with paraffin wax. Let it absorb all the wax it wants, then bang or pull the prop off. I have freed frozen king pins on old trucks to rusted exhaust manifold bolts, never failed me.

[Mo]

I saw this done last spring. Guys were trying to take a prop off ... no luck.

J.C. grabs two heavy hammers and hits the prop simultaneously on both sides...that was it...one smack with two hammers and it popped on the ground.

I just cracked another beer and carried on. I didn't realize at the time that guys had been at that for hours until JC showed up.

[tenders]

Something to watch out for with some prop puller designs - there's usually a hole drilled a quarter of an inch or so from the end of the tapered end of the shaft for the cotter pin. Some pullers have a little "set pin" that puts concentrated stress on the end of the shaft while they're yanking on the prop, and between the effect of the taper and the material taken out of the hole, there's not a lot of meat at the very end of the shaft. It's possible to crush the end of the shaft into the hole for the cotter pin. D.A.M.H.I.K.T.

[tenders]

I saw this done last spring. Guys were trying to take a prop off ... no luck.

J.C. grabs two heavy hammers and hits the prop simultaneously on both sides...that was it...one smack with two hammers and it popped on the ground.

I just cracked another beer and carried on. I didn't realize at the time that guys had been at that for hours until JC showed up.

So, we should add "miraculous prop removal" to the existing literature that includes the "loaves and fishes," "water to wine," and "walk on water" stories?

Shouldn't this be part of the Book of Don? I would think parables of the many resurrected A4s that are leading everlasting lives should go in there as well.

[Loki9]

When I needed to remove my prop, I borrowed a puller from the boat yard. When the man gave me the puller he told me the best way to use it was to tighten the puller on the prop, tight, but not crazy tight, and then give the hub a few whacks with a hammer. Worked the trick and did not overstress the puller, the prop, or the shaft.

[Sony2000]

What transpired was as Loki9 suggested. The puller was torqued with an 18" ratchet, to the strength of other hand on the prop. Penetrating oil had been there for 24 hours so I heated the hub with a plumbers torch. And kept heating it, because the hammer option would stress other parts. Rotated the prop, and kept heating the hub, not the shaft, as suggested earlier. Then, "pop", it moved 1/4". I was home free.
Time for a week down south, before putting all the projects back together.

[sastanley]

'corrosion is a terrible glue, unless you are trying to get two old corroded parts apart'.

This was stolen from my old Indigo thread..I can't remember who said it..it wasn't me though..I just use it all the time..