Update on bearings, lifted the boat out yesterday ( in between gusts & rain), job wasn't as difficult as I thought it was going to be.
1. Boat still in cradle and lower to sit on the keel on a block then built up wood below the rudder with about an inch gap, this required because when you undo the locknut if it falls it can split the rudder if it drops and hits the concrete.
2. Loosened the locknut and left about 3 turns of thread, the from below got some large wedges and gently started to hemmed then in above the rudder against the hull until the rudder started to drop. Once it had broke free removed the locknut completely.
3. Got the crane operator to raise the cradle up slowly and use a 2 foot long brass bar 1 1/4 thick (supplied by friend) started to hit the bar against to square shaft on the top to rudder shaft while 2 people holding the rudder steady and keeping the wood below approx 2 to 3 inches between rudder bottom.
4. The rudder shaft drops out and is really quite heavy so be aware of this plenty of hands available.
5. Cradle lowered again to access the bearing housing, couldn't move the bearing a first seized quite tight, inside diameter is 63mm so go a scaffold tube about 3 foot long and inserted about 2 inches into the bearing and worked the bearing free, have to move from port to starboard ie along the slot of housing, spraying WD40 in to housing frequently to ease.
6. The hardest bit was once the bearing was turned vertically was to turn it 90 degrees to enable to drop out the slot, so brass bar inserted and gently hit the flat surface of bearing until it turned couldn't get it all the way due to width of bar then inserted a 6 in shift and hammered shifter to complete the turn.
7. Tricky bit was pulling the bearing out the slot so a screwdriver bent at 90 degrees (about an inch from end of tip) was inserted at one side and a normal screwdriver inserted the other side and the pulled down with the 2 of them at the same time and out she came.
8. Inspected inside the bearing housing the was some surface corrosion which had to be cleaning so cleaned out with a brass wire brush set (bought from screw fix prior to staring) inserted into a battery drill and cleaned to a smooth finish, there was some aluminium eating away only slight though, may look at bonding over the next week by fitting an anode.
9. Sanded the outside of the bearing and finished out with very fine wet & dry to give a polished finish. Purchased some WD40 with PTFE dry grease and sprayed inside housing and on bearing, inserted bearing got the cradle raised lined up the rudder shaft, (don't forget to put the spacer on) and lower the cradle, once the shaft was in about a foot stopped the crane and man handle the rudder shaft up through the upper bearing and put the locknut on. The rudder could be turned by hand very easily now.
Just have to put the steering linkage back on and test, the rudder removal was started at 2:15 and completed by 3:45 that day maybe I was lucky to catch it on time.
When the shaft was out I measured the ID/OD of the bearing and the actual rudder shaft, these are required to order from supplier, which I will do in the future for the new roller type, at the end of the day I save about £400 by cleaning up the original bearing.
The top bearing was perfect no work required at all.
Another thing I done was have the shaft inspected for cracks my son does NDT testing so another freebie
