Looking at the zirk fittings on the lower collar of the rudder post on my f32. They are blobs of rust and no longer usable. I guess I’ll have to change them to lubricate the rudder bearings. Has anyone attempted this? Are they expoxied in ? Will I need to drop the rudder to change the zirk fittings?
Josh (RadioZephyr) did a great writeup on rudders after consulting Paul Dennis. Very informative piece.
Rudder Talk
“-The zerk fittings on the shaft sleeve should basically be ignored. They were added to correct an unforeseen problem with the rudder bearings. The bearings are made of UHMW plastic, and were originally machined to perfectly fit the steel sleeve on the rudder stock. The tight fit was possible because UHMW theoretically does not absorb water, so the lower bearing wouldn’t get tighter after the boats were launched. The problem is, it turns out that UHMW actually doesabsorb a tiny amount of water. As a result, the perfectly fit lower bearings would swell ever so slightly, and cause the steering to bind up. The fix was to take down the ID of the bearing with a drum sander. This solved the problem, but there was now a small amount of play between the shaft and bearing. They installed the zerk fittings so that grease could be introduced inside the rudder sleeve to take up that play. It’s not there to lubricate or cool the bearings.”
Thanks for sharing Pearce. I read radio zephyr’s post. Very informative and a relief that lubrication grease is not needed.