Rudder end play adjustment

[showskier]

Recently, a member of my ski club noticed a lot of end play (up and down) on my rudder. He told me that I needed to loosen the arm and pull the rudder up with the bolt on top. when I got in there I noted that the rudder shaft was already pulled up to the top of the arm. I also noticed that the lock nut on the rudder box was backed off allowing the big nut to loosen.

Do I use that large nut to make the adjustment then lock it down with the other nut? Its my understanding that some rudders have a packing. If I set it up wrong can I burn up the packing?

My boat is a 90 SN. It does have an update tunable rudder on it. The new one replaced the original that was removed by a rather large rock last year. The rudder box has a zerk fitting on it that suggests its not lubricated by water.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Rick]

RE: Rudder end play adjustment

The nut with the lock nut on top contains the packing so water doesn't leak in. If you loosen that, the rudder can be moved. However it sounds like that nut being loose is causing the play. Tighten it buy hand and then 1/4 turn. tighten the lock nut down and see if there is still play. If so I would repack the rudder gland. There are a bunch of posts on how to do that in the forum. It uses 1/4 inch flax packing. I prefer the teflon coated.

[TRBenj]

Re: RE: Rudder end play adjustment

If so I would repack the rudder gland. There are a bunch of posts on how to do that in the forum. It uses 1/4 inch flax packing. I prefer the teflon coated.

My '90 took 3/16" packing in both the driveshaft and rudder.