HARDIN CHANCEY
Member
My 383 rudder shaft has lot of clearance between the shaft and the tube in the hull does anyone know if there is a replacement bushing for that. Thanks
Thanks jimHardin
As Warren says, the fit through the bronze tube is a loose fit with the packing keeping the shaft centered and watertight. The bronze gudgeon fitting at the lower part of the skeg is where a close fitting is required to keep the rudder from wobbling. If when the boat is up out of the water, if you can hold the bottom of the rudder and shake it back and forth, with noticeable movement, then its the gudgeon causing the problem. There are a couple of threads on the board concerning the tackling of this problem. Over time the bronze of the fitting gets worn and sloppy. You can have a new bronze casting made $$$$$, have the existing fitting built-up with bronze and remachined $$$, or you can build up the gap between the shaft and the fitting with UHMW polyurethane From McMaster-Carr $. If you have trouble finding the archived threads let Mark Pearson know, he is the site expert.
Jim
Thanks for that info,you guys are the best!Hardin
A problem I ran into when I tried to repack the rudder stuffing box was, with new packing and the nut tightened as tight as I could get it, the gland still leaked badly. It was frustrating. I repacked again and even made a wrench just for tightening the big nut, no joy. Upon further inspection, I found that there was debris (resin) stuck in the threads of the stuffing box. Not the threads of the nut. The nut would never tighten properly because the little lump of resin prevented the full travel. A wire brush chucked in a drill cleared the debris and Bobs your uncle.
Another thing you might investigate is the angle that your autopilots tiller arm exerts pressure on the rudder stock. The pressure should all be a rotational force and not side force on the rudder shaft.
Jim