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Rudder Post Sleeve

lbertran

Member III
I'm looking into installing a below deck autopilot in my E35-3. I'd like to use an Edson tiller arm on the rudder post as the attachment point for the drive, rather than use th quadrant. However, the rudder post has a sleeve, seems to be a dense plastic, that covers it from the lower glassed in area to the deck fitting. It rotates freely and also has give of about a half inch up and down. Can anyone tell me the purpose of this sleeve and whether I can safely remove it to mount the Edson tiller arm there? Thanks!
 

Cory B

Sustaining Member
I don't recall our rudder having any kind of sleeve when we dropped our rudder. There were a couple of relatively thin but large plastic (delrin? nylon?) washers though around the rudder tube.

However, I am planning on adding a sleeve or bushing of some sort to remove play in our rudder the next time the boat is out of the water.

Maybe what you are seeing is an attempted sleeve for the "upper" bearing that slipped out or didn't fit right to begin with?
 
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EGregerson

Member III
confused

Do u have tiller steering or wheel? I mean tiller suggests tiller, but quadrant suggests wheel steering. I have an 87 34; it has wheel steering; (uses a radial in place of a quadrant); there is a black plastic spacer (about 3" high) atop the stuffing box and under the radial piece; the rudder post goes thru it where the 1/2" bolt secures the rudder thru the radial piece. Once i drop the rudder, the black plastic spacer comes right off. If Edson has a below deck autopilot setup, this seems a good place to attach to the rudder post. I hope this helps a little.
 

lbertran

Member III
Hi, Valinor

I have wheel steering. The tiller arm I mentioned is a part made by edson that attaches to the rudder post and allows connection of the AP directly to it without having to attach to the quadrant. The spacer you describe is exactly what I have. Thanks.
 

rwthomas1

Sustaining Partner
If you have a spacer, then it is just there to keep the rudder from dropping down to where the quadrant would then be resting/turning on the top of the stuffing box. You are lucky. The spacer should be easily removed, the Edson arm fitted to the rudder post and some large plastic washers made up to go between the arm and the stuffing box. On my E38 there was no spacer, the stuffing box was right up hard on the quadrant so there was simply no room for an arm to be fitted. This part can be the most challenging bit of a belowdecks AP install. Yours sounds pretty simple in a relative way. RT
 

Doug177

Member III
I'm looking into installing a below deck autopilot in my E35-3. I'd like to use an Edson tiller arm on the rudder post as the attachment point for the drive, rather than use th quadrant. However, the rudder post has a sleeve, seems to be a dense plastic, that covers it from the lower glassed in area to the deck fitting. It rotates freely and also has give of about a half inch up and down. Can anyone tell me the purpose of this sleeve and whether I can safely remove it to mount the Edson tiller arm there? Thanks!
Hi Laura or any others with experience....I am about to do what Laura did 10 years ago. Remove the quadrant, remove that plastic sleeve, mount an Edson Tiller arm facing toward the stern for my auto-pilot ram to connect to. And then cut shorter and replace the sleeve to take up the slack on the rudder post. Did you have any un-foreseen issues. I am assuming you faced the tiller arm aft as well. I see Laura has not posted for a while. I Hope all is well. Doug E35-3 Flicka
 

Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
The sleeve keeps space for an autopilot. See #19 in this useful thread:

 

Doug177

Member III
Thanks Christian....That was a nice link about that black plastic spacer and more What is the rudder post tube itself made of? Did I see a post where one had come undone at the top? Was that yours? I assume the packing gland and bottom bearing are both bronze. And I have not heard from anybody yet about neat ideas for creating access through that floor liner pan. As you can see from this image, if there is a grease fitting down low at the lower bearing level on the front side of the tube, I will have to hack away at some liner to get to it. That liner might keep items in the lazarette compartment a little cleaner but I'll bet there are a million, screws, nuts, washers hidden under it tucked away in corners.
 

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  • rudder-post-hull-liner.jpg
    rudder-post-hull-liner.jpg
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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
A grease gun with a flexible hose attachment will reach most Zerk locations.

If that's a grease fitting in the photo it may be damaged or rusted out. Hard to tell. Installing a new one is not very hard.

The liner could be cut away somewhat with a jigsaw or hand saw if necessary.

crop Capture.JPG
 
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