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rudder


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I have a 1993 eurof3 sunsetter and the rudder is loose. It has about a quarter inch of play in it. what do i need to replace in the rudder box to tighten it up.

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First you need to determine where the play is coming from. When you say "loose"...you mean it "wobbles"? Or it can turn without affecting the steering wheel? A wobble would seem to indicate that parts are worn possibly from the lack of proper lubrication at the rudder port. If it is "turning" on it's axis without steering wheel input then you just have play in the system somewhere. If the latter, have someone turn the rudder (by hand) back and forth while you look at all of the connections, starting at the top of the rudder shaft until you find the loose connection. If I was a betting man, my guess would be the connector between the steering cable and the tiller arm. :yes: Second most likely, the tiller arm could be loose on the rudder shaft and the key is rocking back and forth in the keyway.

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Ah yes, the infamous Euro rudder problem. I just fixed mine this spring. JeffS did a great write up on this here

My fix was actually different than his and it sounds to me like you may have a similar problem. If you look at the rudder from inside the boat you will see that it goes up through an aluminum housing. That aluminum housing screws into the aluminum plate that is bolted to the bottom of the boat. In my case, the threading on both the housing and plate were stripped, giving it lots of play. I removed the aluminum housing and plate, had the housing re-threaded and a new bottom plate made. Once I put it all back together it was as solid as could be. Sorry, I didn't think to take pictures.

Good luck!

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martinarcher

If your rudder is different than Jeff's let me know. I wrote up a 34 page how-to rebuild rudder doc in Word on the plane ride back from Australia, but haven't converted it to a thread friendly format yet. If you want, PM me you email address and I can just send you the Word doc with pics embedded in it.

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Looked at the rudder on our 88 sunsetter today.

There is some play in the rudder up and down (along the rudder shaft axis).

Is this the type of loose rudder you are worried about? or is this normal?

Tiller arm and steering cable are tight.

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If your rudder is different than Jeff's let me know. I wrote up a 34 page how-to rebuild rudder doc in Word on the plane ride back from Australia, but haven't converted it to a thread friendly format yet. If you want, PM me you email address and I can just send you the Word doc with pics embedded in it.

:clap: That is awesome! 34 pages! One thing I know about Australia - it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really far away.

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martinarcher

:clap: That is awesome! 34 pages! One thing I know about Australia - it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really far away.

That's right. I had 16 hours to kill on a plane so I decided to go into a bit of detail. Biggrin.gif

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I have the same year of boat as JeffS and have also tackled the rudder. The original rudder was made by WC and they are out of business, so no replacement parts are available. JeffS was able to have new bushings machined out of brass for $160 and it fixed his slop issue. I have a second problem----the tiller arm bolt must have been loose because it created an egg-shaped hole in the tiller arm and the rudder shaft. I talked to a machine shop and they said it would be $300-400 to machine down the rudder shaft, create new bushings, and fix the enlarged bolt holes. I ended up ordering an entire rudder assembly from SkiDim.com for $386. This assembly is made by Marine Hardware specially to SkiDim's requirements for universal applications. Marine Hardware makes the rudders on current Malibu boats, so you're getting OEM-type parts at a cheaper price than buying direct from Marine Hardware. I was told I may have to drill a larger port hole in the hull to accommodate the new rudder assembly and I was a little apprehensive about drilling a larger hole. Turns out, the new rudder port is 2" OD and my original port was 2 1/4" so no need to drill a larger hole.

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  • 1 year later...

If your rudder is different than Jeff's let me know. I wrote up a 34 page how-to rebuild rudder doc in Word on the plane ride back from Australia, but haven't converted it to a thread friendly format yet. If you want, PM me you email address and I can just send you the Word doc with pics embedded in it.

Could I take a look at that document? Thanks

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martinarcher

Sure. PM me your email address and I'll email it to you. It's way to big to attach. I converted it to a DIY in the Resources/DIY section, but for some reason the pics are all jacked up. I need to work with Tracie to fix them.

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