Lower rudder bearing seizure problem

[PEA-JAY]

I wish to share that after I resized the lower nylon bearing (in place) a number of times in my early years of ownership, the rudder stock stopped seizing in the bearing. It’s still the original one since 2005. I was told that nylon can only absorb a finite amount of water and at that point size will stabilize. I hope many owners will benefit from this information!

[hollmanr]

Hi, thanks for sharing - can you expand on how you resized the lower bearing ? Thanks ! Roland

[PEA-JAY]

I used a short piece of PVC drain pipe machined to the size of the rudder stock as a guide and a rotary sanding wheel with a slightly smaller o/d to the nylon bearing’s i/d to sand the bearing internally in place. I dropped the rudder a number of times in the initial years until the bush stopped absorbing water. I don’t think I’ve dropped the rudder in at least 8 years.