Rudder bearings

[bbeach]

I've got my 382#046 out for the winter and prep work for my 2
year cruise starting this June. I'm doing all kinds of stuff.
I've read this board like a hawk and loved all your wisdom and
experience.
Has anyone noticed play in the lower rudder bearing, at the
gudgeon? Is it normal ? How much play is acceptable, in other
words, is it deliberate as to relieve torque? Has anyone replaced
it with modern materials? The top one is solid and doesn't move.
I ask this because I'm getting ready to replace the cutlass
bearing,dripless shaft seal and put on a Prowell feathering prop,
which will probably require dropping the rudder.
I'll look back through the archives, but I don't remember anyone
saying they had changed them out when they had dropped their
rudders.
Comments are most welcome! Thanks.

 

[dhoneycutt]

Morgan told me a number of years ago that the foundry who cast those parts for them had scrapped the pattern, I would therefore suggest you take care of the one you have. There should not be much slop in the unit. There are three screws in the gudgeon fitting. You can probably tighten it up by using a chiesel where it fits when you remove it.

 

[gallagher805]

<div>During my current haul out I noticed that the lower rudder
bearing was really worn. It appears to be strong enough, but
there is allot of slop present if you grab the bottom of the
rudder and shake it. I broke apart the lower gudgeon clamp and
am having a derilin bearing insert milled to take out the slop.
The rudder post opening will need to be enlarged slightly to make
way for the bearing. Additionally, I pulled the quadrant yesterday to repack the
rudder stuffing box. It had been leaking, was tired of the water
and wanted a fresh start prior to installing the auto-pilot.
Pulling the quadrant was easy as it appears that over the years
previous owners have sprayed the bolts. The packing looked ok and
just was really smelly. So some additional investigation reviled
that the rudder stock had some pitting just inside the packing
nut and leaking seems to be due to pitting not the packing
gland. The pitting was concentrated in an area of about 2
inches. In talking to a supervisor in the yard he said that s/s
needed oxygen to remain s/s and that stagnant water in the rudder
log had caused the pitting. For boats that have been used
extensively the movement of water in the log is enough to replace
the o2.
The major pitting was to a depth of about 10% of the OD of the
rudder post. This guy also said that the amount of pitting had
reduced the overall strength of the shaft to about 50% of it
original. I am having the post milled and filled for the
effected area before putting it back together.
</div>

 

[jhudnut]

I have twice had fibre bearings put in the gudgeon. Then I found out from the individual who ran Morgan's field service that some slop was normal and ok. So fixing is good if you have some other reason to take the rudder off but it doesn't sound necessary. It won't stay fixed.

 

[dennstap]

With all due respect, the so called rudder bearing is nothing more than a stuffing box. The rudder post is 303 or 304 stainless and not particullarly stong. If you remove the rudder you will notice a significant void around the post. When I installed a Carl Schumacher NA designed eliptical rudder, I felt that this area was easy to reinforce using Gougeon Bros. recommendations to repair rudder bearings using a mix of graphite & collodial silica injected into the area. This is illustrated in their publications. I did this in the fall of 97 and am very pleased - so far

 

[pirates_lair]

Tony - When I had Pilgrim (M382) out of the water in '96, there was a little slop in the lower rudder bearing which made me nervous. Don't know if it was anything to be concerned about, but I used 1/8 inch thick MDS-filled nylon (which is a good stiff slick bearing material) to insulate the top and bottom of the gudgeon from the rudder material and I used 1/16 inch thick virgin electrical grade teflon (PTFE) (which is an excellent bearing material, flexible and bends easily) to insulate the shaft from the inside of the gudgeon. When I pulled Pilgrim last month, everything was still good.