Stuffing Box Servicing - Move Engine? - J42

[James Ashton]

Hello all,

I engaged my yard recently to have a look at servicing my original stuffing box on my 1998 J42 w/Yanmar 3JH2, and they came back with the following note about needing to move the engine forward to do the work.  I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.

"The only way to remove, clean or replace it is to move the engine ahead in order to get the threaded portion of the seal nut off the packing and there is not enough room between the packing and the coupling"

I'm also considering just switching out to a dripless if we are going to all this trouble.

If anyone has had any experience with this would love to know.

Thanks,

James

Arcadia #17

[Todd Stevens]

That sounds very strange.  What kind of “service” are they proposing? Are they saying there isn’t room to open the packing nut? Has the packing never been changed in 27 years?  Is there an unusually long hose or something? I suppose another scenario might be if it had a different (longer) transmission than usual. 

I had plenty of room for repacking, and later was able to remove the stuffing box and replace with PSS shaft seal without much trouble.  Well, removing the coupler was the usual trouble, but I certainly didn’t have to move the engine.

FWIW, I had my old, much smaller, boat in the yard last year for bottom paint and while it was out, thought to ask for a quote to change the packing and the cutless bearing. They came back with a quote for thousands of dollars.  IDK what they were thinking, but I didn’t take them up on it.  

Todd

J/42 SV Wild

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[James Ashton]

Hi Todd,

Per the pic below, there apparently is not enough room before hitting the coupling to unscrew the seal nut.    It's probably why it's not been touched for so long.

Seems pretty shortsighted that this would be installed in such a way that requires bumping the engine forward. 

I'm going to take this opportunity to replace the coupling and go dripless for the stuffing.

Thanks for your thoughts.

James

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/49E3E719-B95A-4E9B-B3D7-A54C7B7BECC4%40me.com.

[Todd Stevens]

Well you definitely have a couple of inches less room in there than my boat does. Hard to tell what’s different. You’ll have to measure carefully and check specs - I wasn’t sure I’d have room for the shaft seal that I bught (PSS Pro series) but it did fit, with little room to spare.  

I will try to check later to see if I have pictures. On the road ATM.

Todd

J/42 SV Wild

On Aug 22, 2025, at 06:50, James Ashton <jfelto...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Todd,

Per the pic below, there apparently is not enough room before hitting the coupling to unscrew the seal nut.    It's probably why it's not been touched for so long.

Seems pretty shortsighted that this would be installed in such a way that requires bumping the engine forward. 

I'm going to take this opportunity to replace the coupling and go dripless for the stuffing.

Thanks for your thoughts.

James

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/CAK3hZvXest2m-ZXFKfG9CB%3D%3DDPAx779fNDg7_WBJXo6L550iqw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Larry Romano]

One thing you should check is your cutless bearing. If that is worn you could remove the shaft leaving the engine in place.

On Aug 22, 2025, at 10:20 AM, 'Todd Stevens' via J/4X Owner's Group <j4x-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Well you definitely have a couple of inches less room in there than my boat does. Hard to tell what’s different. You’ll have to measure carefully and check specs - I wasn’t sure I’d have room for the shaft seal that I bught (PSS Pro series) but it did fit, with little room to spare.  

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/D57CA286-82A5-479F-9884-AAA16B24A571%40me.com.

[Todd Stevens]

Dunno - I can’t see how you would even remove the shaft coupler, at least by my usual method. Which is to unbolt it from the engine, slip an appropriately-sized socket in between, and tighten down the bolts to push out the shaft.  

 

Can’t immediately find a “before” pic, but here’s an “after.” It doesn’t show much at the transmission end. (BTW, I ran that vent tube up into the hidden space above the engine and behind the ladder. IIRC, there’s a vented loop up there too.) The PSS Pro is more than an inch longer than the old stuffing box assembly.

What transmission do you have?  It doesn’t look quite as I remember my Kanzaki 3A, but I probably don’t necessarily remember the appearance from that angle.

Todd

J/42 SV Wild

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[James Ashton]

Yup..well as you said..it's strange...maybe a factory installation aberration....who knows.   Anyway,  I'm replacing the bearing and the seal while doing a bunch of other work on the engine.  It's not the end of the world to bump the engine forward as the whole area is opened up already.

Your setup puts mine to shame..time to get it updated on my end!

Thanks all for your feedback.

James

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/5E0CF6C3-054F-498F-A254-D6F10F197308%40me.com.

[gale...@gmail.com]

Interesting. I have the Volvo collar that has worked well for us. Burping and greasing in spring and fall keeps things running fine.

Galen

J42 #57

[WSC]

James - did they even try getting the seal nut to turn yet?   Looks like it's only on a thread or two with maybe 1/4" space to back it off.  Could/should be enough.  But probably wiser to replace your rusty coupler, pull shaft, replace cutlass and install new pss or similar shaft seal.   file under "everything happens for a reason"....:) 

Sean C - VIDA J42 #1

[James Ashton]

Great point Sean.   Not yet.  However,  yes I am taking the opportunity to replace the whole set up including the cutlass ..it's time.

Thanks for the input.

James

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