Prop shaft install help - v drive

[Jono]

I'd appreciate any tips, advice, or links on this job. I've got no choice but to do it myself unless i want my local nautique dealer to shake me down and take 7 weeks to fix it like last time. Besides, I believe this is just one of those things you should know how to do yourself if you do your own maintenance. You can save yourself some weekends, and lots of $$$. Theres only a dozen or so bolts, and at this point I think the engine alignment is going to be the easy part.
I've just removed the 8 coupler bolts which probably took 15 minutes a bolt. You can't put a socket on them, and its done a 1/4 turn at a time with an open ended wrench on one end. Its also helpful to be able to bend yourself into a pretzel. What i need to know now is the sequence in which to do things. With the coupler unbolted, it still shows no signs of wanting to separate even a fraction. My common sense is telling me the strut is holding things in place and i'm tempted to unbolt it, remove it, and then start tapping the shaft. Or should i spin the shaft from the prop? See what i mean.....I better check here first.
Would anybody have a link to the process in a service manual? I've searched and couldn't find any good DIY articles. I will try and take pics along the way and put something together.

[TX-Foilhead]

Screwdriver or a chisel and a hammer will seperate the couplings, there is nothing but the bolts holding them together. There's a good video of the alignment process on CCF, its not hard, but quite a few people don't understand the concept at first. As you already found, the VDrive make everything more difficult because of where it is.

[crobi2]

It's a good sign that the coupler halves are difficult to get apart. It usually means that the shaft was aligned very well previously. Be careful separating them. If you make a divet in them with your tool, you will have to file/sand that out to get your alignment back to .003 when you put it back together.

Depending on the year of your boat, you should have either an interference fit or dual taper shaft at the shaft coupling fitting. (The dual taper shafts have a taper similar to the propeller end at the coupler end also and the coupler has a nut and key). You pop the double taper coupler off sort of like you do a propeller using a special tool. The interference fit you have to put a socket between the coupler halves against the shaft and use longer bolts back through the v-drive/transmission side coupler to slowly (more slowly than getting the coupler nuts loose) push the shaft out of the coupler. To put the non-taper style coupler back on you have to heat it to at least 450 F (500 if you can) in the oven and slide it back on the shaft before it cools. No fun under a v-drive (I went to a double taper A.R.E. shaft when I replaced my cutless bushing).

Also, there should be a safety collar on the shaft just in front of the log that keeps the propeller from hitting the rudder in case of coupler failure. It is held on with an allen screw.

While you have it apart, you might want to replace your cutless bushing in the strut if it needs it.

Good Luck!

EDIT: It's also a good time to replace the packing in the log if it need it (and if it's not a dripless log).