I have been unable to change my shaft packing, because I didn’t have enough room between the shaft coupler and the stuffing box to back the shaft nut all the way off and get at the stuffing.

I'm going into my eleventh year with the boat and have been putting off doing anything about it. I would have to uncouple the shaft to change the packing and the shaft coupler was so rusty, with no discernible bolt heads that I had no way to remove it. So after contemplating this for about 5 years I decided it was time, becuase my sweet spot for drip adjustment was getting smaller and smaller. So last fall I literally cut the shaft coupler off of the shaft and the output coupler. I did this with a cutting wheel on a small grinder and a 3 inch cutting wheel on a dremel tool for the more delicate points. All this while scrunched into a tiny bilge upside down with my feet above my head. Gary Mull did not allow much room for the auxiliary motor in the Ranger 29.

I was able to get the coupler off without damaging the output coupler and with just some insignificant damage to the very end of the shaft. I decided to replace the stuffing box and hose with new parts that would be shorter overall in length so that I can hopefully back off the new nut and change the packing when the time comes. How often does everybody change their packing?”

This picture shows what it all looked like before. During and after picture coming.