Removed the Rudder

Rodman · Post by **Rodman** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:19 pm

The steering was very hard to turn, I removed the rudder today. The packing came out of the packing nut, what do I use to repack it with. What do you think I should use to reseal the rudder shaft back to the boat.

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:42 pm

Stop by your local marine shop,and get some packing felt. Its a waxy, felt-like material. 3/16" or 1/4" should work. Do a google search (or search here) onhow to pack it. Usually 3-4 wraps around and put it all back together. Tighten until it doesn't leak (no more).

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 8:48 pm

And use 5200 to seal the packing box to the hull

vabeach1234 · Post by **vabeach1234** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:28 pm

You may want to try this stuff.

http://www.e-marine-inc.com/products/gf ... cking.html

I repacked my shaft nut and it took 1/4". It's a 1" shaft.

Ken
1972 Trojan F-26 Hardtop
Chrysler 318 Paragon PV31 V-Drive

Rodman · Post by **Rodman** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:30 pm

I did notice that there is some scaring inside the packing box.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:50 pm

vabeach1234 wrote:You may want to try this stuff.

http://www.e-marine-inc.com/products/gf ... cking.html

I repacked my shaft nut and it took 1/4". It's a 1" shaft.

Ken
1972 Trojan F-26 Hardtop
Chrysler 318 Paragon PV31 V-Drive

thats Good stuff!!!

Some scaring I would not worry about as long there is not a lot of play .
Make sure the rudder shaft is not bent Very important !

alexander38 · Post by **alexander38** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 3:53 am

listen to Paul on this one

the whole bent rudder thing

Rodman · Post by **Rodman** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 1:21 pm

prowlersfish wrote:
vabeach1234 wrote:You may want to try this stuff.

http://www.e-marine-inc.com/products/gf ... cking.html

I repacked my shaft nut and it took 1/4". It's a 1" shaft.

Ken
1972 Trojan F-26 Hardtop
Chrysler 318 Paragon PV31 V-Drive

thats Good stuff!!!

Some scaring I would not worry about as long there is not a lot of play .
Make sure the rudder shaft is not bent Very important !

Paul its not bent, But the packing box will not slide back on the rudder shaft. its very hard. The rudder shaft is not bent and it is very clean. I did use some 220grit sand paper on the shaft. I have even tryed to sand in the packing shaft also. Any thoughts on this problem?

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 6:43 pm

Could be corrosion build up are you trying it with the packing nut off ? if the nuts off and still wont go The box could be bent or out of round . or you could have a bur on the shaft . a brake hone can clean up the box pretty quick. did you check the shaft with a straight edge ?

chucka · Post by **chucka** » Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:50 pm

But the packing box will not slide back on the rudder shaft. its very hard.

I had this issue with the F-26 I used to own. Any load on the rudder from a gentle grounding to running over a lobster pot or mooring line, can deform either the shaft or the packing gland. The gland can be either bent, or ovalized. If the shaft starts to slide on the packing box, but becomes tight, it's an indication that something is distorted. If the distortion is small, you should be able to correct the problem by having the packing gland reamed.

You can get a pretty good feel for the straightness of the shaft by rolling it on a machined surface, like the top of a table saw (with the saw blade retracted of course). Hang the rudder blade off the edge of the table and try to get a feel for how the shaft rolls on the flat surface. It helps to have a 2nd person to handle the imbalance of the rudder hanging off the edge of the table. If the shaft rolls smoothly, it is pretty straight. If it wants to hop, or you see a gap developing as you try to roll it, the shaft may not be as straight as you think.

I took my shaft and gland to a machine shop. The gland was slightly distorted. They used an adjustable reamer to shave a couple of thousandths of an inch off the inner diameter of the gland, making a nice sliding fit between the shaft and packing gland. If I recall properly, they chucked it up on a lathe to keep the bore square. The seal is at the packing nut, so taking a small amount off the bore won't hurt. They have to be careful not to take off so much that the fit gets sloppy though.

Rodman · Post by **Rodman** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 12:17 am

prowlersfish wrote:Could be corrosion build up are you trying it with the packing nut off ? if the nuts off and still wont go The box could be bent or out of round . or you could have a bur on the shaft . a brake hone can clean up the box pretty quick. did you check the shaft with a straight edge ?

Yes with the packing nut off. No the shaft is not bent. I will try to do what chucka said and have it reamed.

Rodman

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 6:26 am

Just dont take to much metal off you may want to replace it as they are not to expensive

Rodman · Post by **Rodman** » Thu Jan 21, 2010 10:15 pm

Well I painted the rudder today. I took it down all the way to metal. I removed years of old paint, what a job that was. I still need to take it to the machine shop this week get them to boar the packing housing it so it slides easy up and down.

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Fri Jan 22, 2010 9:56 am

Make sure there is no paint between the rudder and zinc. They need to be metal to metal. Looks good though.