Rudder Bearing

1999 Defever 49CPMY
Having an issue turning the steering wheel. went through a diagnotic review and I believe it is the rudder bearings seizing up. What to do? where to get the bearings, hope fully in advance and any other input you might have?
Thanks in advance
Gregg

I just went through the same thing on mine. I have very similar mechanism as you have. They had to drop the rudder and found a small spot of corrosion on the shaft that was causing it to bind below the bearings. Cleaned and welded a tiny spot and I was back to new.

Wata
Two years ago we had the yard drop the rudder shafts and clean things up, new packing and polish the surfaces. No drips and all still looks good. I’d say every decade or so it is a PM area on DeFevers.

I just refurb'd mine last year. The bearings (if there are any) would be located at the top of the big stainless "U" just under where the crank attaches to the rudder shaft. But to me it looks like you don't have separate bearings, just a big bushing of sorts welded to the top of the "U".


Disconnecting the ram from the cross shaft should allow you to immediately determine if the difficulty turning the wheel is in the rudders or not.


In any case, it looks like you're getting some leakage past the rudder stuffing boxes. It would probably be a good idea to dismantle them, pull the rudders, clean everything and replace the packings.


Ken

" replace the packings."


Should be first attempt as the stuff may be decades old ,hard as a rock, and far better packing is available today.

Hopefully you don’t have this problem, but when we had the bearings replaced a few years ago on our Defever, we found significant corrosion and pitting on both shafts where they passed through the stuffing boxes. Certain alloys of stainless steel can develop this corrosion when they are immersed in what is basically stagnant seawater and become oxygen-starved. I took them to a shop that specializes in recladding shafts for pumps used in the mining industry. They ground out the pitting, sprayed them with Inconel 625 (which is resistant to pitting) and milled them down to original specs. Not cheap, but they looked like new and I don’t expect to have this problem again.

We have changed the packing and we were getting some leakage. Still relatively new at this and I understood they were supposed to leak but I think I let them leak to much, Angus I believe you are onto something here just not sure if I can solve this or do I need to bring it to a yard?
Gregg

Wataworld said:

We have changed the packing and we were getting some leakage. Still relatively new at this and I understood they were supposed to leak but I think I let them leak to much, Angus I believe you are onto something here just not sure if I can solve this or do I need to bring it to a yard?
Gregg

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For rudder packing no leakage is required (or desired) and in fact the packings should be fairly snug. A small amount of packing leakage is needed on propshafts to lubricate and cool the packing.


Ken

angus99 said:

They ground out the pitting, sprayed them with Inconel 625 (which is resistant to pitting) and milled them down to original specs. Not cheap, but they looked like new and I don’t expect to have this problem again.

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Very nice. I think the average shop that deals with military jet engines could do this as well! Wonder if Pratt Whitney has a suitable shop in S. FL.

Any engineering shop that refurbishes crankshafts can do this.
Eliminate the problem in one of two ways, either fit a PSS seal, or, repack the stuffing box with PTFE impregnated steam packing and then fit a remote greaser.
If you can't find one pm me and I'll put you in touch.
What do I have ? a remote greaser and no problems in donkeys years.

Eliminate the problem in one of two ways,"


An easy third cure might be Duramax packing , which does not require to leak or a perfect surface or any pumped in lubrication.

A grease fitting at the bottom of the packing can keep the lower bushing area free of corrosion and marine growth, give it a monthly squirt, and really pump it up if the boat is to be left idle for any length of time. You must first pull the rudder and clean/polish both surfaces.
No reason to have drips, any modern Teflon or graphite packing properly installed with liberal amounts of Teflon grease slathered on all surfaces and between packing rings will give many years of drip free service, of course assuming that the shaft is straight and round, and not pitted or scratched.

kapnd said:

A grease fitting at the bottom of the packing can keep the lower bushing area free of corrosion and marine growth, give it a monthly squirt, and really pump it up if the boat is to be left idle for any length of time. You must first pull the rudder and clean/polish both surfaces.
No reason to have drips, any modern Teflon or graphite packing properly installed with liberal amounts of Teflon grease slathered on all surfaces and between packing rings will give many years of drip free service, of course assuming that the shaft is straight and round, and not pitted or scratched.

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I understood that i could not grease the shaft while you are using some form of packing as a seal! Are you saying I should drill and tap the rudder through hole to install a zerk fitting.Thanks for everyones input it really helps me learn I own this boat for 4 years and apperantly not squishing the packing to no leak but I will for the future!

I understood that i could not grease the shaft while you are using some form of packing as a seal! Are you saying I should drill and tap the rudder through hole to install a zerk fitting.Thanks for everyones input it really helps me learn I own this boat for 4 years and apperantly not squishing the packing to no leak but I will for the future!

Yes, grease below the packing , in the lower bushing/bearing area.
Tighten the packing nut in small increments just until it stops dripping.
Over tightening can cause damage to shaft.