bertram31.com

I need to remove the rudder bearing on my port rudder. I have removed the locking collar and friction plates from the top of the rudder bearing and also removed the set screws using an allen wrench from the top collar of the bearing itself. I unbolted the body of the bearing from the rudder shelf. The body of the bearing moves freely around the rudder post (the bearings work). The top portion of the bearing (collar) that I removed the set screw from will not turn or budge. I tried spraying with PB Blaster and have used a cheap ($5.00) gear puller and succeeded in just bending the feet/metal of the gear puller.

Am I missing something? Do I just need a better/hardened gear puller? Do I need to just put a diamond blade on my dremal tool and cut it off?

Any advice/suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance...

Paul J
1973 B28 - PALADIN

Paul,

Bearings that have been installed without anti seize will eventually become corroded enough to be effectively "welded" onto the shaft.

Flange bearings, (cast iron flange body), are relatively inexpensive, so destroying the bearing is in order...

In the middle of the cast iron body, vertically, drill a line of nearly connecting holes through to the bearing. Do this on both sides.

Use a cold chisel to break the casting into two parts and remove. Remove the outer race and balls.

Once you're down to just the inner race, use a propane torch and lubricant, preferably Corrosion-X, to break the race free.

Be sure to apply a good anti seize to the shaft and inner race when re-installing. TefGel is my product of choice... (Now available on Amazon.com)

Thanks Capt Pat. On my way to cut bearing off and replace.

Tefgel will be used when replacing!

PaulJ
1973 B28 - PALADIN

Capt Pat and crew,
Thanks again for the help and this board. I was able to cut the bearing down to weaken it enough that a couple of wacks with a hammer loosened it off the rudder post. Once it budged, the gear puller worked like a champ and I was able to easily pull of the bearing.

I had the use of a lift last week, so I dropped my rudder and cut out the old shelf and made a new one and replaced all of the old hardware. My B28 rudder shelf is not as impressive as the ones I've seen built for the 31's, but I needed to replace the rotted out shelf and only had a couple of days to do it. So, I cut out my parts from 3/4 inch marine ply and epoxied each separate part with 1st coat at 10% denatured alcohol thin per other posts and then 2nd coat encapulated in layer of glass and full strength epoxy. Glued everything together with a paste made of microballons and epoxy and made sure to coat all of my pre-cut holes with 2 coats of epoxy prior to buttoning up the job. I had to beat out the old, rusted out bolts that held the old rudder shelf to the stringers. Bolted everything back to the fiberglass stringers and used 4200 for extra measure to glue my shelf in place while tightening down the bolts. The local boat yard (Cracker Boys) had the tefgel in stock ($11 for a very small tube in a syringe) so I was able to put it together like instructed.

No leaks, drips or errors! Whole job took me about 2.5 good long days with much of the time drinking a cold one while I waited for the epoxy to cure in between steps.

Thanks again,
Paul J
1973 B28 - PALADIN

Hello
Does anyone have a part number for the B31 rudder bearings
HELP!!!!


Thanks
Andy

dabroand wrote:Hello
Does anyone have a part number for the B31 rudder bearings
HELP!!!!


Thanks
Andy

Andy

Do you have the stock rudders or have they been upgraded? When I redid mine with the new rudders, I purchased the bearing based on the size of the rudder post.
Take a look at these, they may help you get an idea of what you need.

https://www.tidesmarine.com/rudder/urbstd_overview.php

I've used those bearings from Tides Marine on my old B25. They're great!

Stock bearings were called flange mount bearings and can be had a number of places by googling.
You will need to know your shaft diameter to get the right one.
Easy peasy.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywo ... n2cs_e_p37

Bruce nailed it. Measure the shaft id, and the bolt pattern (including distance between the holes) and then visit your local bearing distributor. They can provide you with either steel cast pillowblock or if you want to try to be really slick, a stainless bearing in a plastic pillowblock. There is virtually no rpm so its not a high stress application. You can buy a relube style, but its not super important due to the application, the fact that no matter what the bearings will die due to the environment long before the grease degrades, and 99% of folks never relubricate them anyway.

Don’t bother trying to pull them, just cut them off.

Good luck!

I just removed both bearings and I had to cut them off with a high speed grinder and a metal cutting wheel. You have to be careful not to cut into the rudder shaft.

Good Luck
Andy

This is what I used on my B28.
TRITAN-UCFLSS205-16SS