Very easy and quick rudder bushings.

[Craig Weis]

So I go to Ace Hardware and pick out four bronze 1/2 o.s. dia bushings with shoulders by 1~1/2 inch long and two 3~1/2 inch stainless steel bolts with two nylon nuts, and 8 s.s flat washers. The bolts fit snuggly within the bronze bushings. The above cost $14.72 for my friends boat.

The aluminum castings already have a plastic/nylon spacer within the hole from the factory. I drilled this hole to 1/2 inch with my cordless drill and pulled these plastic things out.

Drop the bolt into the bushing and tap on the bolt head...this will tap the bushing into the new hole in the aluminum casting. One needs to drill the casting bolted on to the transom and the casting holding the rudder blade/IdaSailor. The bushings sit shoulder to shoulder, one down, one up, and the washers fit under the nuts, two flat washers per each nut. Lots of Never Seize and it's good till the bronze bushing are used up and become sloppy. A long time away. Skip. This is a lot easier then when I did this to my boat.

[curtisv]

I bought some stainless steel tubing stock from MSC Direct and hacksawed to the length I needed.  I couldn't find bushings in a hardware store that were the right size.  Don't remember off hand the size.  This was for a CP23.  Sounds like you made a good find at Ace.

Curtis

[Potcake boy]

Skip,
I have used with great success a trick I learned from a seasoned boat yard worker. Cut a shim from the flat side of a plastic milk jug and place it around rudder post - pintle bolts - or as washers on each side of the rudder stock between the upper section of the rudder blade. Makes for tight smooth operation and lasts longer than I can tell you.

On the rudder blade it provides enough friction to hold it down, but allows easy kick up or raising with the lanyard (a somewhat difficult task given the lack of advantage the lanyard has, but that is another story yet to be told). I will provide pics if anyone wishes.

Ron

[Craig Weis]

Yes, but my rudder assembly had from the factory plastic inserts that the rudder was bolted into. So I drill these out till the bushing I supplied could be tapped into place.

A picture of these bushings is in the Frappr link, on the bottom of this post. skip.

[jb]

Ron,

pictures would be appreciated.

thanks,

j

[Salty19]

Ron,

pictures would be appreciated.

thanks,

j

Ron sold his Com-pac a few years back (note post is from 2008). He probably isn't logging in too often, if at all these days.

[jb]

 thanks Salty19

2008...guess my observation skills @ 02:41 AM need some fine tuning?

j

[Citroen/Dave]

One of the most important benefits of the simple added-washer-type-of-solution is that it prevents the bolt from tilting; thus preventing sidewise wear of the bore through the aluminum casting. After tensioning the nuts rudder play is eliminated, and you get a few more years of use before having to re-bore and shim the casting.

[jb]

 Citroen/Dave

..."simple added-washer-type-of-solution"..

this means double-up on all washers that are present in the rudder head assembly or some specific  ones???

thanks

j

[Tim Gardner]

If you buy the shoulder bushings as pictured below, there is virtually no "play" at all.





The bushings have their own Bearing surface end to end and have only .010' difference between it's ID and the 3/8 bolt's OD

The bushing dimensions are: Flange thickness = .062";  Flange OD = .065"; Barrel OD = .505"; Bushing ID= .380"  Overall Length = 1.0"

I installed these on my 19 in just over an hour total.  Used a 1/2" drill X14" long extension to drill out the castings to size, tapped in the bushings with 3 in 1 oil liberally applied, and voila! done.  no slop at all I used dielectric silicon grease to lubricate the bolt bushing because it hinders galvanic corrosion.

Total cost less than 10 "clams".

$0.02  Regards, TG

[jb]

Tim,

Thanks for the photos and info

j

[nies]

Tim,

Thanks for the photos and info

j
The bushings are very effective, skip has always recommended putting the bolt in upside down so you can see if nut is coming off.............. I would not recommend and put mine in with nut on bottom because i felt that if the nut did come off the bolt would still be there to hold rudder.........nies.

[hinmo]

If you buy the shoulder bushings as pictured below, there is virtually no "play" at all.





The bushings have their own Bearing surface end to end and have only .010' difference between it's ID and the 3/8 bolt's OD

The bushing dimensions are: Flange thickness = .062";  Flange OD = .065"; Barrel OD = .505"; Bushing ID= .380"  Overall Length = 1.0"

I installed these on my 19 in just over an hour total.  Used a 1/2" drill X14" long extension to drill out the castings to size, tapped in the bushings with 3 in 1 oil liberally applied, and voila! done.  no slop at all I used dielectric silicon grease to lubricate the bolt bushing because it hinders galvanic corrosion.

Total cost less than 10 "clams".

$0.02  Regards, TG

Tim - where did you get those shoulder bushings?

[Tim Gardner]

Lowes!
TG

[nies]

I got mine at the hardware store a number of years ago and have worked great......nies
Tim - where did you get those shoulder bushings?
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