Nut Job

[bakerlh]

I have a 1999 Merc 25 hp ELF on my bass boat. I have never had a problem with the prop, but today I went to check the prop shaft for fishing line, etc. All was well, and after I greased the shaft I used a tire iron and a piece of wood to tighten the prop. The nut would seat on the shaft OK and got to a moderate tightness level, but then the nut would slip. The nut backed off fine but upon trying a second time, the nut would slip before getting ?real? tight. My impression was that the nut should be very tight to secure the prop. As an aside, last Monday I had the boat out and ran around a large lake at speed for about 45 minutes with no issues. Do I have a propeller problem in the making here?

 

[Scott Danforth]

you may have a nut thread issue.

 

[Fed]

Watch it carefully when it slips to make sure it's not the hub slipping.

 

[Grub54891]

Or the nut is wore out, "stripped" Check it carefully.

 

[bakerlh]

I ordered a new nut. They are cheap and I will see if this one snugs up............

 

[bakerlh]

The prop nut arrived and I see that it is plastic! Now I see that the original prop nut was plastic though it looked like painted steel! I assumed the original one was steel like the prop shaft and attempted to tighten it accordingly. No doubt I stripped the nut threads. When did these nuts start going plastic? And how can you seat the prop snugly when you are tightening a plastic nut that can only take so much torque?

 

[David Young]

I would snug the nut up and put in a nice new stainless steel cotter pin to keep the nut from backing off.

 

[bakerlh]

I believe this presumes I have a perpendicular hole in my prop shaft for a cotter pin. I do not.

 

[Gibsonman2005]

I believe this presumes I have a perpendicular hole in my prop shaft for a cotter pin. I do not.

Scary. Get another nut or two as spares.