F32 stuffing box

[jackcarles]

I'm making no progress on separating the lock nut from the adjustment nut; it was repacked years ago by a mechanic who is no longer around. I have put PB Blaster on it and its done ng; can't even see the line where they join. Has anyone done this recently and has a diagram--or can make one. Any help appreciated.

[midnightsailor]

I just finished replacing my cutlass bearing , and this also involved removing the shaft, stuffing box, etc. I was glad to find I had no problems whatsoever the coupling came apart with np trouble and the packing gland and locknut seprerated also without fanfare. There was a lot of corrosion on the stuffing boxx, nut and gland due to years of neglect but a little vinegar and a wire brush took care of it with out much trouble. You might try that, make sure you get the corrosion out of the threads of the stuffing box before you try backing off the nut. Also, be sure that is what your trying to do and that your turning in the right direction. I am sorry but I don't know how to print up a diagram to show you but, basically there is a packing gland which also has a hex (flats) for a wrench,in which the packing goes, and then up against this,aft of it, is the locking nut ,which of course has hex(flats). grab the flats on the packing gland with one large packing nut wrench and the flats on the locking nut with another wrench. Looking aft, the lock nut should be turned clockwise while holding the packing gland. If you only see one set of hex(flats) it may be that what you are trying to turn is the packing gland...perhaps some one in the past did not install the lock nut ! Otherwise, making sure you remove the corrosion should enable you to see things better and allow the nut to back off. You might check Nigel Calders book for a look at how they go together. Some ,by the way have have an additional insert inside the packing gland that commpresses the packing, others compress it against the end of the shaft log as the gland is tightened. Hope this helps. Rick

[Rick Simonds]

On my Hoyt 32, the locking nut is quite thin front-to-back, just shaped like a flat-faced plate not more than, say, 1/4" or 3/8" thick. Everything forward of that is the adjustment nut, it just butts up to the locking nut's flat face. From memory, the "nubs" on the locking nut are very slightly taller and rounder than the nubs on the nut. It's probably thinner fore-and-aft than you think. Whatever wrench you're using to hold the locking nut, just put it a far back as you possibly can, so it's just barely grabbing the farthest-aft nubs.

The best tool for removing corrosion is a small stainless steel wire brush on a Dremel tool. The good news: with a delicate touch and when things go well, it removes corrosion almost instantly. The bad news: if things go wrong for even a fraction of a second (and they will: too much pressure, bumping it into something, etc.) you'll instantly wreck yet another $7-ish wire brush. I'd start with at least 3 of them.

I feel your pain. As I get older and less flexible, due to the difficult position of this thing, maintaining the stuffing box is becoming one of my least favorite tasks.

[jackcarles]

It turns out--no pun--that the locking and adjusting nuts were frozen tight; however, after spraying with PB Blaster on 2 successive days the nuts separated pretty easily and the threads look clean. I am going to repack with (expensive) a dripless compound that allows the two nuts to be tightened up without having to worry about drip rate. Oddly, the nuts involved don't have flat surfaces--they have a series of "humps" that require pipe wrenches to loosen. All is well; thanks again

Jack
Avventura