So I'm getting vibration when in gear so I thought I would investigate. When I removed the shaft this is what I got



I was quite surprise at how lose it is. am I right that the cutless bearing is shot or could it be something else?

also doing this resulted in my stuffing box dripping slowly all the time not just when in gear. so I think I need to pull out on the hard sooner rather than later.


so a new cutless or something more serious?