Further to my post 10 November 2020 I would like to pass on some information regarding removal and stripping of the lower bearing assembly and Halyard swivel. Both jobs that Selden say leave to a dealer.
I decided that to access the 4 screws that were jamming the tack ring was not a job to be done easily with the bearing assembly in place . I decided to remove both units from the forestry and strip and clean all bearings. Removal is detailed in the Selden manual and is fairly straightforward. However a couple of pointers : with the back stay slackened and the mast pulled forward with the fore stay halyard and spinnaker halyard, the terminal / rigging screw can not be removed from the socket without a good amount of heat. Despite thinking the fore stay was slack enough the rigging screw jumped out of the last thread and thankfully my assistant had a good grip on the fore stay .
Sliding both units off the forestay is straightforward after removing the sail feeder.
The lower bearing assembly stripping involves removal of the circlip holding bearings in place. Bearings etc then can be cleaned and reassembled. My bearings were in good condition but if attempting this job you will most certainly need new buffers, part B11 , on the breakdown. They are 5 mm diameter and 8 mm long rubber. Probably EPDM .
To strip the halyard swivel it is first necessary to remove the two screws part A4. Unfortunately the captive nuts are prone to turning in the plastic sleeve. I had to resort to a good stainless steel workshop where they tack welded the edge of the screw to the stainless body /hub, . This enabled them to drill out the screw. Instead of buying a completely new sleeve at £57 plus vat I resorted to jamming both nuts into their respective holes surrounded by aluminium foil and epoxy glue Stripping and cleaning of the swivel unit was again straightforward and the three buffers were completely missing , so again had to be replaced. I hope this summary might help if anyone is contemplating this job
