Removal of V drive

[P69]

I'm pulling my engine and V drive to clean them up and would like some guidance regarding the removal of the V drive, specifically regarding the prop shaft removal from the V drive.

I've successfully (and surprisingly easily) removed the jack shaft (from the transmission to the v drive) and I'm left with the V drive that is connected to the propeller shaft.

The V drive is an RV26, so it's pretty tight around the v drive area.  It's so tight that I am not sure i can remove the bolts holding the the Gear Shaft Flange from the Prop Shaft Flange together. One problem is that the shaft turns when I try to turn the nut.  WHat is the best way to prevent shaft from turning? I was able to remove the two bolts on the Prop Shaft Flange and the  set screw on the Prop Shaft Flange, but not sure how to remove the prop from the Prop Shaft Flange. 

What is more likely to occur, separate prop shaft from Prop Shaft Flange or remove the 6 or 8 bolts and separate the Gear Shaft Flange from the Prop Shaft Flange?

I'm on day 2 of soaking pb blaster.

Thanks

[Dale Tanski]

I have the standard Walter 10 series V-drive so I am not sure what the 26 entails.  In my case you must remove the bolts on the prop shaft to V-drive coupling.  To keep the coupling from spinning just drop the main drive shaft back in place with a few bolts in each end and drop the transmission in gear. Once you get the prop flange bolts out, take the drive shaft back out and unbolt the V-drive from the supports in the hull. 
Again, your 26 Walter maybe an entirely different animal.

Dale
Maruska #40

[PeteW]

Pretty unlikely that the shaft will slide off the coupling after you remove the pinch bolts so you need to get the flange bolts off first.  Like Dale said, locking the input shaft down. You may be able to get a wrench on the flat site of the coupling and jam it against the hull.  Not any old wrench will fit those 1/2" nuts either. A Snap-on box open end is what I go for. Pretty sure a socket will not fit. Can't vouch for the RV26 coupling.   If not a  3/8" drive crows foot  might help deliver some impact.  Hopefully they didn't use red Locktite on the threads. I'm not keen on anyone firing up a torch inside a boat.

There are also ways to lock the V drive but I'm not sending you down that road either.   Pete

[P69]

Thanks guys,

I'll go find a couple of 1/2" wrenches. The ones I have are labeled 1/2", but they are kinda loose. Socket definitely does not fit; will have to use wrenches.

[Risto and Liz]

I just removed our v drive (RV10). I just put a pipe wrench on the shaft to keep it from turning. It didn't take much and even on the bronze shaft did not mar it. We are replacing the shaft with SS so I didn't care.

[P69]

Well, I was all screwed up with my wrench sizes.
After i removed the engine this morning, I took another look at the nuts on that v drive. Turns out that 14mm is a perfect fit for the flange nuts. So, I put two of them on there, one braced against the hull, and with a little cussing and a lot of hoping my knuckles don't get smash when something breaks, the nut slowly began turning! 

Great! I took one nut off and decided to save the rest for after work tomorrow. It's been a long day with a tense morning watching the 500lb motor bouncing up an down on the main halyard while the chain hoist slowly raised that puppy up to the cockpit. 

Ya'll have a good night.