[Anonymous]

On my B40 – 2010 -for a while now I have been getting a clicking sound from somewhere in the twin wheel rudder mechanism. When I hold the top of the rudder post I can fell a very slight movement as the water moves or the boat rolls a small amount say in a marina. I can also hear a clicking when motoring.

I can see that the rudder locks at the centre of each steering wheel only but this is some way from the rudder stock. I can see that I can move one wheel slightly whilst holding the other wheel still. So I set about tightening the adjusters on the chains. The chains from the wheels to the bottom of the pedestals were a bit loose and this seems to be where the movement between the wheels can be reduced. I also tightened the chain from the port wheel to the rudder gearbox and the movement between the wheels reduced.
But still I have the problem but a bit reduced from where I started.

As far as I can see there is a problem where the tiller arm connects to the rod that connects to the rudder gear box. There is a bolt which passes through the tiller arm and the bearing at the end of the connecting rod. This bolt is tight but I can feel a very slight movement from side to side between the bolt and the tiller arm. It is as if the hole in the tiller arm is a tiny bit too big allowing unwanted movement and this seems to be where the clicking happens. Has anyone seen this problem – it seems like it is likely to happen on any rudder installation where there is a connecting rod from the rudder gearbox to the tiller arm?

I suspect I may need to fit a new tiller arm and bolt unless I can find a different solution.

[BobC]

Can you drill it out and put the next size up bolt through it?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think so because the bolt through the tiller arm (and also the steering gear box output arm) also goes through the ends of the steering drag arm which connects the gearbox to the tiller. I am thinking that the problem might possibly be in the joints at the end of the drag link arm and these are replaceable.

Or I might have to fit a longer bolt so I can positively clamp the bolt to the tiller arm and then an extra nut clamping the drag arm end to the bolt – this might avoid replacing the tiller arm. I will have to see what I can see when I take the boat out the water for annual maintenance.

[PaulandCarolPlatts]

I also have the same problem with my B40. Having been through this with my boatyard the problem seems to be with the lower rudder bearing, basically there are a number of small needle rollers in the bearing housing and the rudder stock goes through these.The bearing is made by Jefco of Denmark. They are not a tight for and so the rudder can move both side to side and forward and backward. With the boat out of the water it is possible to move the rudder in all directions. I changed the bearing a couple of years ago but the problem did not go away for long – seems there is not much you can do about it.
I did try tightening up the chains to get rid of any play in them but it didn’t help. There is also a very small amount of play in the rudder gearbox but I suspect this is not the cause of the problem.

[Author]

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