Tiller arm

[Rocky]

Hi guys, question for ya about my B28 style tiller arm (below the shelf) on the starboard side, when I tighten the pinch bolt, the arm has some play on the rudder shaft. In fact I can actually slide it a bit up and down on the arm. Can I safely grind some material off at the pinch or slotted portion of the arm(.025"), or do I have to replace the arm? Port side is O.K. Thanks.

[Harry Babb]

I am sure that removing even as much as 1/8" (.125) of material to gain more squeeze is not going to compromise the integrity of the tiller arm.

You probably have WEAR that is preventing the arm from clamping onto the shaft.

You may consider getting some .002" or .005" Brass shim stock from the autoparts store and inserting a strip of the shim stock between the Rudder shaft and the Tiller arm to take up space instead of widening the slot.

Harry

[Rocky]

Thanks Harry, good idea with the shim material. I'm glad I caught that as it seems dangerous to operate like that! Also good if the shim doesn't pan out you don't see a problem with taking some material off arm. Thanks.

[STraenkle]

Rocky:

I know Harry knows more about metal working than I'll ever dream to know, but I would look closly for a crack in the clamp portion, to be on the safe side. I had a tiller arm that seemed to clamp down fine and looked fine, but seemed to get loose when I checked them in the spring. I found out the hard way, when a vessel cut across my bow in the Woods Hole channel and I had to go hard reverse to avoid it. Well I stopped in time, but it sounded like I hit a rock. The hard reverse sucked the rudder 180 into the prop. Made a mess of prop, rudder, and shaft. two weeks of boating lost and lots of money. I bought two new tillers from buck algonquin.

[Harry Babb]

Excellent advise Scott

Harry

[Rocky]

Thanks Scott, I guess I'll remove that tiller starboard side and clean it up/ check for cracks. That makes sense if it cannot be tightened only now, unless it was run loose for a while causing wear. You certainly put in proportion what could happen if it breaks off! Thanks guys.

[Rawleigh]

I had never thought about that happening if it broke!!! Wow!

[Harry Babb]

it sounded like I hit a rock. The hard reverse sucked the rudder 180 into the prop.

AUGGGGGG! ! ! ! I cannot get that sound out of my head! ! ! ! ! Make it go away! ! ! !

I know that was a bad day Scott...

Harry

[Ken Hudson]

If you have enough rudder shaft length and enough room between the shelf and the tiller arm put a stop collar below the tiller arm, drill right through the collar and shaft and put a through bolt with a nylock on it. That way the rudder is captive no matter what happens to the tiller arm.

[Rocky]

Ken , drilling a hole through the rudder shaft seems like it would severly effect structural integrity of the rudder shaft, and what happened to Scot was his tiller sheared at the clamp, letting the rudder turn into the prop. Ouch! I actually checked my tiller for cracks the other night, I do not see any cracks so I will take a small amount of material off the pinch point. Thank you though, for your thoughts.