Rudder Bearings Siezed Removed & Renewed 2021 part 2

[Gardan]

Hi , after starting a thread about rudder bearings replacement , I have titled this thread with 'Sledge Hammer' to reach out to anyone who has taken this what seems quite drastic action to remove the Rudder with siezed bearings holding it in place . After being directed to video on YouTube by a kind person on this site and it mentioned using a 'Sledge Hammer ' to remove siezed bearings , before I do in fact start bashing away on Monday which I am reluctant to do but seems I may not have any choice . Has anyone else experienced siezed bearings that would not allow the rudder to drop after removal of auto arm and steering clamp arm ? There isn't anything else for example that could be holding it is there ? A hidden screw perhaps .
Any experience at all would help thanks
Bavaria 38   1999
Cheers

[Gardan]

My boat is a Bavaria 38  1999
Whilst waiting for some help here's some background which may help others in the future :
Please check your 'splash seals' or Gaitors as Jeffa call them as you can see by this picture I've sailing around with no protection , thankfully due to covid the boat hasn't been on any long journey .
My gaitor splash seal literally crumbled in my fingers , when we released the strap around the rubber sock .
All 4 bolts on the auto arm where siezed solid and too 20mins and blow torch to remove , for the second 4 bolts around the steering clamp we purchased a longer Allen key about 9inches long this was really helpful but still needed a spanner on the end to get two hands on for leverage . These bolts also took 20 mins each at least , it's a two man job really as it's exhausting work in the confined space , also invest in two foam pillows for your neck and head to rest on . Here's some pics . I'll post some pics of the siezed bearings if we do get the bugg@3er of a rudder out [/img]

[Gardan]

Bolt seized

[Gardan]

Splash seal failed or Gaitor which I purchased direct from Jeffa
This crumbled when we removed the straps on the rubber sock

[Gardan]

Was advised to purchase this small tube £25 ouch . Of tef-gel anti seize anti corrosion lubricant . To put the bolts back in ... hope I don't have to do this job again . But be useful on all other shackles and stuff I guess too .

[Gardan]

Another view of the failed splash gaitor seal

[Gardan]

Nasty auto arm bolts that took over an hour to release , one trick I learnt from chap helping me was to take your time and tighten yes tighten the bolt also and always go quarter turn forward and quarter turn back to avoid shearing the bolt which is nightmare to avoid in such a confined space.

[Gardan]

Auto pilot arm off

[Gardan]

Rudder drawing for reference

[Gardan]

What the new Jeffa rudder bearing and splash seal ( gaitor ) highlighted in red looks like .

[Gardan]

Sorry here the pic

[Yngmar]

Was advised to purchase this small tube £25 ouch . Of tef-gel anti seize anti corrosion lubricant . To put the bolts back in ... hope I don't have to do this job again . But be useful on all other shackles and stuff I guess too .

Nobody needs Tef-Gel for anything, ever. It's a non-setting anti-seize lubricant, which means any waterproof grease (e.g. silicone) is a suitable equivalent that does the same job for a fraction of the money. In certain places, such as exterior rivets, a setting anti-seize compound such as Duralac is better advised anyways. For your rudder quadrant and such, dipping the bolts into some silicone grease will work absolutely fine.

So many ways to get ripped off in the marine sector - be wary! 

[Gardan]

Hey yngmar , is that so , ha ha another expensive lesson learnt , thanks

[Gardan]

Take a look at this video on YouTube:

*** note I have removed this video link as I was advised this was for a motor boat and would of damaged my ruddder , so I'd ignore the post completely ***

This is an interesting video where they removed the rudder from beneath the hull , using leverage , my rudder does move from side to side , so maybe a combination of this method and also hammering the rudder from the top May do the job , three man job at least . One on rudder moving - one on plank leveraging downward pressure and one up top , hitting the rudder with a sledge hammer ? Hmmm this makes sense to me as when we did you quite a bit of force with the lump hammer , we didn't rotate the rudder nor did we use any leverage and the rudder didn't budge a mm for all our efforts . What you think ?

[Gardan]

Text removed by Garden as we did not use this method described in original text .

[Yngmar]

Do not pull or apply leverage on the rudder blade like shown in the video. That video was a motorboat with welded metal rudders. If you do this on your Bavaria, you will seriously damage the rudder.

[Gardan]

Yngmar : ok thanks for the advice , we'll go back to the Sledge hammer from the top . Thanks

[Gardan]

Update : this is what I actually did but I damaged the housing also using this method . I would still probably do it this way regardless if knowing that the top hat housing was going to damaged beyond repair and new one purchased
We have an idea ( before we sledge hammer )  to purchase some long drill bits - and try to drill upwards through the tiny gap in the letter box , move the rudder bit by bit and drill up as many times as we can to try and damage the bearing as much as we can so it releases its grip . We feel like the top bearing has quite a strangle hold on the shaft . It's a very small hole underneath the bearing the slot of the letter box where the bearing should drop out when the shaft is off .
Any thoughts on this idea ?

[Yngmar]

If you can get in there, that might help relieve the pressure of the swollen bearing. Try to be careful and not damage the housing though.

[Gardan]

Yngmar : thanks again for your support , yes we have to drill on an angle toward the rudder shaft we have taken a measurement from the new bearing and taped the drill bits 1/4 of an inch lower than the depth , we are conscious we may scrape the shaft with the drill bits as we go in on Angle , but feel we could repair this if we don't go daft, so the soft bearing could run smooth around the shaft .
Thanks again

[Gardan]

Top of shaft

[tiger79]

Top of shaft

Just to clarify, you have been removing the nut before hammering the top of the shaft?

[Gardan]

No we left the top nut on but gave it half an inch turn to catch the rudder should she drop

[tiger79]

No we left the top nut on but gave it half an inch turn to catch the rudder should she drop

Could you try using the emergency tiller to twist the stock at the same time as hammering it?

[Gardan]

Hi Tiger we are hammering the top where the emergency tiller fits so no , however we can wiggle the rudder from underneath as we bash it .