zerk fittings on rudder shaft

[JerryT]

No steering or rudder problems. Attempeted to but grease into zerk fitting on rudder shaft and no grease would enter into the zerks. Replaced with two new zerks and still no grease would enter into the rudder shaft. Whats the problem? Do I need to turn the steering wheel as I put grease into the zerks?

[JerryT]

The boat is a 2003 Sunscape 21 ft LSV, purchased new, just found out the rudder shaft has two zerk fittings. Tilly's in Ventura said its a sealed shaft from the factory. I called Malibu and they said no, grease the fittings.

[Lance B. Johnson]

The boat is a 2003 Sunscape 21 ft LSV, purchased new, just found out the rudder shaft has two zerk fittings. Tilly's in Ventura said its a sealed shaft from the factory. I called Malibu and they said no, grease the fittings.

You can try that sure. Make sure that you get the grease gun lined up as perfect as you can on the Zerk. If your angled at all it can make it difficult to get the grease in.

[Ozfabs]

Try to insert one of the fittings you took out of the rudder and insert it into your grease gun to see if grease goes through it. You might have to really push it in there. Could be that the nipple inside the gun's head has grit or something blocking the connection whe the 2 are together.

[Indyxc]

On my 04 I know in the bottom fitting grease was very hard to get in, but it did go in on the top fitting.

It should only need 2-3 pumps I've read here online. G

[JerryT]

You can try that sure. Make sure that you get the grease gun lined up as perfect as you can on the Zerk. If your angled at all it can make it difficult to get the grease in.

Thanks, I tried to keep it lined up as best as I could. Just prior to taking on this job I used the grease gun on the trailer barring buddies so I know its not the gun.

[scfdfireman]

Try having someone turn the steering wheel one turn back and forth while you're pumping the gun. You should be able to find a sweet spot where the grease will enter. It's also much easier if you relocate / extend the grease fillings to the stringer so you're not reaching way inside.

[smooth as glass]

I've had mine to be difficult as well. I recently read somewhere here that the trick is to break the seal on the Zerk first with something, like a pin or nail????

[Malibu_Mike]

BE CAREFUL do not try to force the grease in our you will do what I did, and blow the seals at the top of the shaft and the bottom of the shaft. If you take one zerk fitting off you will still not be able to force grease in, when I had mine apart, there is also a rubber seal between those two fittings, so logic says if I take one out the grease should flow out that one, if the seal was not there that would be true. There is not much room to insert the grease, and it will take very little. You might want to take both fittings out, turn the rudder from side to side several times and see if this forces any grease out (most likely it will not) but this might give you some space to put a tiny bit of new grease in.

If you do blow your seals you can get a repair kit from discount inboard marine (Paul from Bakes, confirmed for me this kit will work as long as you have a Marine Hardware rudder). If you look on the bottom of the rudder plate it will say Marine Hardware or MH. Most likely if you have to two zerk fittings, its a Marine Hardware rudder.