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My son is replacing the cutlass bearings on his 31. He asked me to take out the old ones, but I have run into a problem. The Allen set screws will not budge. Have tried heating them but no luck. They have been on the boat for 13 years. Any info would be appreciated.

pull the wheels
drop the strut
slide it off the shaft take it to someone to press a new one on
unless you have someone come with a press

Someone will have to drill out the set screw, retap it and install a new one.

Most yards should be able to do that and most have a compression tool that will push the old cutlass bearing out.

Also you can try a mix of 50% ATF ( Transmission fluid ) and 50 % Acitone. I make it by the gallon. It is far superior to any commercial product like WD 40.
From Popular Mechanics Magazine:
"And if you don't mind a little mixology, try concocting a homemade cocktail of automatic transmission fluid combined 1:1 with acetone, which can be as much as four times—repeat, four times—as effective as any other product."

Apply liberally and let it sit. Sometimes heating the spot will suck the solution into the threads.

If you haven't stripped the head one the Allen bolt, strike it with a hammer using a tool that is the same size as the head of the Allen bolt.

If you'd rather not drop the struts...and good with a SawZall

Pull shafts

Using a Long SawZall Blade make two cuts and chisel a section of the bearing up. I prefer cutting the bottom at 5 & 7 O-Clock as you can see progress and its easier to handle saw.
You need not cut 100% through and be careful not to get into the strut bore... Once that small section lifts out the bearing collapses enough to tap out easily.

With bearing out...you can try to run set screws out now that there is no pressure binding them. That don't work...drill em out. They are SS and not to hard...just drill at a slow speed not to burn out the drill bit.


Those set screws are usually 50/50 on coming out without a fight. In the shop, if they came out easily...great. If not I left them in place, tossed up in hydraulic press to push the cutless out then went back to removing set screws after.

We have one more trick to do and if that fails we will drill them out and tap out. Thanks for all your help. I will post in about 2 weeks to let you know what we did.

I agree with Carl.
I too had the same problem. After the cutlass bearings would not budge with either the extractor or the hammer, the mechanic cut them with the sawzall as per the first pic.
It is a very precise job because the tool has to cut the bearing without harming the strut.
In the second pic he made a new screw hole, as my struts did not have any fastening screw before!
Good luck.

We are going to drill out the set screws and use a powerful press to push out the bearing. Should be as easy as pie. I hope.

ed c. wrote: Should be as easy as pie. I hope.

Unfortunately famous last word Ed!! Good luck!

The job was completed last Wednesday ( 4-11 ). The set screws were drilled out and more powerful press pushed the old cutlass out. Retapped the holes and put new set screws in. The old press used had half the power of the one that did the job. Thanks for all your replies.