I dropped my rudder to replace my cutless bearing. When I did, this rudder post bearing came out in two pieces. Anyone have a source for a new one? I tried the SBO site. Maybe I should just glue it back together?
Is this bushing still available?
- Thread starter Justin_NSA
- Start date
Apparently there are a number of previous Hunter employees attached to SBO who are available for consulting. You may be able to track them down through the site. Worth a try as "no bearing, no boat."
@dlochner would be your first contact.
McMaster has the material
www.mcmaster.com
Any machine shop can make it in about an hour.
McMaster-Carr
McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.
Any machine shop can make it in about an hour.
Contact Mike Thomas at the forum store extension 106. He use to order parts for Hunter Marine now working for SBO
If I can't find one, I may do this. The diagram says I need 2. Might as well get both.
Thanks Dave. I talked to Mike. He gave me a place in Florida that might be able to fab UHMV bearings:
Tides Marine, 1-954-420-0949.
Well, that was a dead end. Tides Marine looked at the drawing, but suggested I have it fabbed locally out of UHMW or Delrin.
What I am beginning to see more of suppliers going by the wayside since 2008 which does not bode well. This is why the forum store moved to. Florida as Al Fooks still can get most parts from there
Not to drag this out, but it might be helpful to someone on here. I went out to the boat yesterday to finish up my cutless bearing R&R. That's what started all this. Thx for the John Duramax referral BTW. Anyway, I did a closer inspection on the rudder bearing situation:
The 2 bearings inside the rudder post hull 'tunnel' seem to be intact. The broken one in my first post is identical to these two, but it looks like rides under the steering quadrant, between the quadrant and the cockpit 'floor'. I think it acts more like a spacer to give the quadrant clearance. Underside of the quadrant casting has a circular groove for the bearing. Then the bearing and two thin plastic spacers set the height of the quadrant and rudder post. This closes the gap between the bottom of the hull and the rudder. Does this make sense? I can't find a drawing to confirm this.
Meantime, I think maybe Hunter just used the same bearing used inside the post tube for a spacer under the quadrant. That should mean a simple UHMW or Delrin part with the correct ID and OD, minus all the groove should work fine. The OD wouldn't even have to be that precise. That should simplify getting one fabbed somewhere.
The 2 bearings inside the rudder post hull 'tunnel' seem to be intact. The broken one in my first post is identical to these two, but it looks like rides under the steering quadrant, between the quadrant and the cockpit 'floor'. I think it acts more like a spacer to give the quadrant clearance. Underside of the quadrant casting has a circular groove for the bearing. Then the bearing and two thin plastic spacers set the height of the quadrant and rudder post. This closes the gap between the bottom of the hull and the rudder. Does this make sense? I can't find a drawing to confirm this.
Meantime, I think maybe Hunter just used the same bearing used inside the post tube for a spacer under the quadrant. That should mean a simple UHMW or Delrin part with the correct ID and OD, minus all the groove should work fine. The OD wouldn't even have to be that precise. That should simplify getting one fabbed somewhere.