Dripless shaft seals dripping.

There are several methods of hot spray metal deposition that would be ideal. Cobalt or cobalt/nickel deposition is extremely hard and wear resistant,(there are many powered alloys available). This process could be applied then the shafts ground & polished back to original O.D. As corinthian99 mentioned you have to check cost & find a machine shop with the equipment.

What are you going to de couple? How did you determine the alignment of everything is still connected tight?

First you said you had pitting and now say one is out of alignment by a known quantity of unknown units.

A machine shop can sort out the pitting if properly equipped but cant do much about alignment unless the shaft is bent even then straightening is not often all that successful.

Hi,

Depending where it was measured that could just be an out of round outside diameter on the coupling or whatever it was measured off.

Drop the coupling bolts if you can and slide the shaft back a bit if a gap does not appear when the bolts are loose it only has to be a fraction of an inch and see what the clearances are using feeler blades between the mating faces.

You should be able to do this yourself if you are slightly mechanically inclined and see if there is a big difference one way or the other.

I replaced Tides seals with Lasdrop seals with very good results.

Engine alignment is determined by the relation of the coupling to the engine- shaft alignment is determined by removing the shaft and checking if it fits into the struts true. You can also look at the cutless bearings to see if it rides on one side or the others aka visual inspection. Shaft roundness is by dial indicator or at the machine shop when they roll them. IIRC.
What is so difficult about pulling the wheels? Should take less than two hours for one person to remove and re-install them.

Which was placed where exactly?

Out of round and out of alignment are two entirely different things. Can you rotate the shafts by hand freely? If the alingment was way out it is possible the end of the shaft is deflecting a bit when it rotates but there should be a corresponding movement in the opposite direction 180 Deg opposite. By this I mean if you get a + 0.010" plus reading in one spot you will get - reading when you go another half turn.

I don't feel 10 thousands out of alignment on a shaft is enough to make Tide Seals leak. I think the acceptable range is 6-8 thousands on shaft alignment. The Tide seals ride on the shaft and the only thing holding them is a silicone rubber shaft tube which obviously gives. The most critical issue with them sealing would be pitting that would tear up the seals, or the shaft being worn and not the correct diameter.

When I worked at Viking as a mechanic one of my jobs was to R&R props. With a propsmith and a jack cart to hold the wheels it rarely took more than 40 minutes to remove both wheels alone no matter what size wheels. Putting them on is a two man job because you should to lap them- but still it's less than 30 minutes each wheel. Might be three hours. I can see a yard charging 5 hours- and in the final bill review I'd call the yard out on this if I were you and they should back off the 5 hour to a reasonable amount. Especially if you watch the guys do it and explain they either goofed off or did take less than the 5 hours. NEVER take the yards word on a timed job and always review the final with someone that can rectify charges which are bogus.

If two hours of yard rate stops you from dealing with a larger issue which may cost orders of magnitude later ....

x2....

agreed.