2001 Bavaria Cruiser 47 rudder removal - solved

[UP]

Hello,

I'm preparing to drop the rudder on my 2001 Bavaria Cruiser 47 and have the following question to start with. How do I remove the rudder tiller draglink? Please see image attached. There was a M10(?) bolt and nut going through the quadrant/tiller and ball joint of the draglink, which I removed, but the ball link did not separate from the quadrant, it is still a solid joint. I banged on the joint with upward force somewhat, still nothing. Help is appreciated, thanks!
PS - ideally I'd like to leave the draglink turnbuckle as is, then I can skip redoing rudder alignment later.

[SYJetzt]

Undo the Quadrant from rudder Shaft and leave the joint of the draglink in place....

[UP]

I got the rudder successfully dropped yesterday. I confirm that the draglink ball joint can be removed by applying upward leverage between the draglink and the quadrant (see image). I used a wrench for this. @SYJetzt thanks for the comment, I want to take all the parts out, clean them, etc. I dug a hole under the rudder to drop it, worked well.

I was surprised that there were very little complications during dropping the rudder and removing the old bearings. The only caveat was that half(!) of the bolts on the upper bearing brace were sheared at the brace-deck line (see image). That is a curiosity. I believe due to poor maintenance.

Question: on the upper bearing brace, half of the bolts/screws have a countersunk seating and the other are flat (see image). That is an interesting engineering nuance. Does anyone know why is this so?