Removing very, very, very stuck propeller (Mercruiser MC-1)

[jimmwaller]

Hi all,
I'm swapping out propellers and mine is stuck. Very stuck. I bet it's had 30 years of saltwater corrosion built up and I can't get it to budge. I've searched this forum and other forums and tried basically every trick to get it to pop, but nothing doing.
Hoping that by creating my own thread I can get some fresh ideas!

Things I've tried:
1) soaked in PB blaster for ~1 week, changing out the oil every day. Then tried brake fluid for another few days. Heated gently (I guess there's rubber in the hub?) a few times before PB blaster-ing, just to help the PB blaster get into any additional cracks.

2) had a few friends hold the prop, while taking a hammer to the propshaft. The nut was on to keep the threads in good shape, and it got smacked so much the nut is now in bad shape.

3) Tried looping ratcheting straps around the fins and hooked them to a medium sized puller (so the straps were under the fins and being pulled straight up with the puller... I guess you can kind of imagine the prop being pulled up by its suspenders, if that gives you a better mental image?) and really cranking. Cranked so hard that I hid behind a trash can and operated the ratchet with a pipe because I was so sure something was going to pop, either the prop or the fins or the straps, and go flying.

4) while doing all of the above, hitting it with a rubber mallet from various angles to help it vibrate loose.

It's not moving, at all. Tried everything I could find online so looking for new ideas, either for clever ways to get the prop off or different penetrating solutions that might work better. Never seen anything like this before.. Hoping to keep the shaft and prop in decent shape, if possible.

Important note: This is the donor unit (as opposed to the unit on my boat), so it's just a free-standing lower unit and isn't actually on a boat, so I do anything that involves using the hydro tilt or anything.

Any tricks will be tried.

Thanks!!

 

[racerone]

Cut the outside of the propeller off.------Cut the rubber off the hub.-----Split the hub to get it off the propeller shaft.----Install new prop.

 

[jimmwaller]

@racerone That's the solution I see a lot, but in my case, I'm trying to get the prop of in once piece. This is just an extra lower unit (that I'm also trying to keep in one piece), I'm hoping to use the prop on my actual boat! Thanks

 

[racerone]

Good luck with it.

 

[jimmwaller]

Ha, thanks! I guess I can take the time to confirm—on these old MC-1 drives, I took off the propshaft nut, and the little spined washer thing that holds the nut, but that's it—there's another flanged nut thing that the spined washer fits into, and I didn't take that out, but that's fine, right? That should come out with the prop?
Thanks

 

[Scott06]

Ha, thanks! I guess I can take the time to confirm—on these old MC-1 drives, I took off the propshaft nut, and the little spined washer thing that holds the nut, but that's it—there's another flanged nut thing that the spined washer fits into, and I didn't take that out, but that's fine, right? That should come out with the prop?
Thanks

Yes once nut is off it should slide off. They make pullers for this but are probably more expensive than the prop you are trying to save…

 

[Scott Danforth]

if the prop hasnt been off every year it was in salt and the prop shaft greased, even cutting it off may not save the shaft.

 

[Sea Rider]

Drill some small holes at different sides of the prop body deep enough to barely be in contact with the drive shaft, with a syringe apply brake fluid, WD-40 or any other penetrating fluid, let soak for some hours, repeat the process several times and hopefully should be able to pull out that stuck prop from the drive shaft...

Happy Boating​

 

[j cat]

Ha, thanks! I guess I can take the time to confirm—on these old MC-1 drives, I took off the propshaft nut, and the little spined washer thing that holds the nut, but that's it—there's another flanged nut thing that the spined washer fits into, and I didn't take that out, but that's fine, right? That should come out with the prop?
Thanks

I remove the outdrive in fall... remove the prop .. then I put it in the basement. paint the outdrive has no corrosion .then install it in spring ..use anti seize on the prop shaft..grease the u joints and install the gasket outdrive bellows ....put grease on the drive shaft slide it in easy...
grease the gimbal housing ...hinge pins ..