Objectives  The installation of the stern shaft is an important part in the ship shafting installation. However, with the enlargement of the ship, the stern shaft journal becomes thicker and the shaft length lengthened, which makes the installation of the stern shaft more difficult.

  Methods  In order to solve this problem, both number and arrangement position of the temporary support in the installation process of the stern shaft were explored by using the simulation software based on three-moment method to solve the variation of the deflection, stresses of the stern shaft and the counter-force of the temporary support, then obtain the rule of influence of the number and arrangement position of temporary support on the deflection and stress of the stern shaft.

  Results  Simulation results show that the front deflection of the stern shaft is too great to pass the front stern bearing smoothly when the stern shaft is pushed to the rear end surface of the front stern bearing, therefore, a new technology of the guide shaft fixing at the front of the stern shaft was adopted, which optimized the structure, size and hoisting mode of the guide shaft, and realized the smooth installation of the long stern shaft.

  Conclusions  The study in this paper provides a reference for the stern shaft installation of large ships.