PSS Shaft Seals (Options)

[Jon Foerster]

An upcoming project that I will be dealing with is Shaft Seals. I currently have the PSS Shaft seals. They are going on 20 years old and are showing it. The rubber accordion boot has gotten stiff and now causes at higher RPM to throw water. And I’m talking by the gallon. Seems to get out of balance and shimmy’s. Anyhow it didn’t do that before. I believe after sitting up this winter they just got stiff and didn’t relax back.

So I contacted PSS about it. They were helpful and told me how to adjust the collars. So i ordered new set nuts and accomplished the starboard side. When I went to do the port side the Hex heads stripped out. Too corroded to come out. So my quick fix was to put a hose clamp on a make shift rubber boot out of a hose and clamp it on the accordion boot. This expanded it enough to get by. But that’s my temporary fix which allows me 1500 RPM to scoot around.

The project is next time I pull the boat out. I’m going to order new replacement / Rebuild kit. Replace the boot and all new set screws. I will have to tap out the prior set screws. P.s. I will try the kit to reverse the set screws out.. but if i have to drill them out to get them off I may damage the collar. Which will lead me down the path of replacing 3/4 of everything…

So the big question……. If I’m going to have to replace everything on the shaft seals. What is the best option??? The guy that surveyed my boat told me that this is an ongoing problem with the PSS seals. So I’m open to replacing them completely. I have 2” shafts running with the Volvo Penta 480 HP. I have a spare shaft that came with the boat so I’ve got some back up options.

Please advise..

Topic

[Mike Mason]

I run tides as well. There was an issue with on of mine prior to purchase so they cut the blue boot down about an inch to get to a
True point in the shaft. No issues.

[Kraig Kilger]

I recently replaced my PSS as I noticed that one of the bellows was developing cracks. They were installed new only 3 1/2 years ago. I have had them on prior boats as well and this is the first time I have experienced this issue. My boat yard of choice said they have seen problems recently with the quality/durability of the bellows on the PSS units and suggested switching to Tides seals which I did. So far so good with the Tides, but it’s only been a few months. That being said, as noted above you can’t have surface imperfections where the the Tides seal (or any other lip seal system) meets the shaft which might be a concern in this case based on the picture that was posted. You did well to get almost 20 years out of them. If you stick with PSS, don’t rebuild anything at this point, just replace the units with new.

[john]

I have replaced the pss dripless shaft seals in the water. Depending on how far the shaft will slide back you don’t even need to take the prop off. You said it was leaking but have you checked the preload on it?

[Philip]

I have the Tides Seals on my boat and they have been perfect. One thing every shaft seal has in common wether it be traditional, PSS, Tides, or any other is they all will require some sort of maintenance at some point. The rubber hose (accordion in the PSS) will eventually need replacement and that means taking the boat out of the water and removing the shaft.

My best advice would be to use whatever your local yard supports.

Phil

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Bill Desmarais

[Rob Schepis]

I’ve worked with the Tides Marine setup (rubber lip seal) on several boats and it always served well. You do need a pristine shaft surface for the rubber lip seal to ride so you may have an issue there based on what I can see so far. With the Tides you can also have a spare seal in a carrier on the exposed shaft between to the coupler for a quick and easy change out when needed.

And of course, don’t rule out a quality traditional stuffing box with modern day packing materials.

[Author]

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