Strut bushing question

[woody17]

Hi everyone--

Please pardon if this is a silly question or if it has been answered a million times, I haven't had time to really deep dive to find my answer.

I have a 88 Supra Saltare w 454 in it, and I recently sheered the driveshaft by the coupling. I bought the boat last year, and apparently this happened recently to the previous owner as the shaft I took out looked pretty new.

Anyway, I've added the R&D Flexible coupling per Cecil at Elbert's suggestion, but as I was replacing the strut bushings, I noticed the set screw for the front bushing was missing because the threads on the brass strut were stripped.

My mechanic said I can push the bushings and and put a special type of loctite on it (dark green one in red bottle) and that it would hold. I did this, but it has me concerned that it won't hold and will cause the bushing to slide, which was likely the reason the shaft sheered (alignment was pretty much on point).

My question to you...how important are those set screws? Will the loctite work? And if not, are there any other suggestions to prevent having to replace the strut?

Thanks-
Joe

[lively]

get another set screw larger than the stripped one you have , just a hair larger and set it in the bushing ... done

[wotan2525]

I see two options -- tap the hole for 1 size larger of set screw, or remove and take to a machine shop and have them rethread it. Either one should work without much fuss/expense.

[Salty87]

those bushings were really snug from what i remember. the loctite will prob work but only time will tell. the strut is fixable. in addition to what's already been suggest you could also just have another hole made for the current set screw and leave the stripped hole as is. it won't hurt anything.

another thought that's not ideal but you've already loctited the new bushing in. a little jb weld into the current hole and just plan to deal with it much later.

have you installed the new shaft yet?

[woody17]

Thanks for the heads up guys. Yes, it's all put back together, tonight will be the first test ride. I will examine after the ride tonight.

When I go to the next size set screw, do I have to retap it or is the brass so soft that the set screw will make new threads?

Thanks

[bens250ex]

how much was that flexible coupler and where did you buy it from

[chris young]

you can't just shove a larger set screw in the same hole. I'm with Salty 87, just drill and tap a new hole and you're done. Any machine tool place can sell you the correct tap and drill if you bring them the set screw. You could install a helicoil, but you'd have to buy the whole kit just to do the one hole and they aren't cheap.