Loose Steering wheel????

[scottdube]

My 98 410 has had a loose steering wheel since I got her in 2001. I have finally had enough as it gets a little violent when on the autopilot. I thought it was the shaft key so Edson was nice enough to send me one after a boatshow. That didn't fix it so this year I got more serious. I talked to Edson tech support. They were GREAT! But I still have to figure out what to do. The hub of the wheel is bigger than the shaft either by wear (not likely) or it was never a good fit to begin with. Edson says that Hunter sourced their own wheels for a while at different times.

A new Edson wheel is about $650 plus shipping etc. The other option I have thought of is having a machine shop bore it out and put a bushing in and recut the keyway. Anybody had this issue?

Thanks!

 

[Bill Roosa]

It is not absolutely necessary to have it perfectly centered right?
So a shim of some sort would work to take the play out.
You could:
"jam" a thin metal sliver in opposite the keyway
or
use ploy-sulfide goop to take up the space
or
jam toothpicks in the gap

I'd not recommend any of the permanent sealants as you will have a hard time taking the wheel off to use the emergency tiller.

 

[Don12364]

My H376 wheel constantly worked loose on the shaft. Each time I tightened the nut more and more. The wheel is on a parallel shaft with a key just like yours. The force of the nut was only resisted by a very thin stainless circlip on the shaft at the back of the wheel hub.
No amount of tightening would hold it against the torque of the autopilot and finally the circlip sheared off.
I put my problem back to Edson and eventually they supplied a stout two part stainless steel collar. I fitted this on the shaft using Loctite and left it a day to cure. Put the wheel back and tightened the nut.
Since then no more trouble.
I guess this was all in about 1998/9.

This collar became a standard Edson spare which they sold to anyone with this problem.
If no longer available then get one made. 3/8 " wide, 1" bore, 1 3/4" OD. Sawcut into two with Allen screws to hold the pieces together round the shaft. All very simple; I could do you a drawing if necessary. (Dunnit see below)

Is this the solution to your problem too?
Don't expect a freebie though!

 

[scottdube]

Thanks Donalex it is a solution to "a" problem that we have but not "the" problem I'm writing about. Though they are related. as no amount of tightening will tame the sloppiness of the wheel. My belief is Hunter sourced a "cheaper" alternative to the Edson wheel that just does not fit right. If it did the wheel would not work back and forth and loosen the nut. Even if the nut is tight the wheel can be loose in the direction of rotation. Thanks for the ideas though!

Scott

 

[kloudie1]

Scott, expanding on Bill's idea, you could measure the bore and the shaft with micrometers and then select a piece of stainless shim stock to take up the space.. (thickness = half the measured difference; cut in a band to wrap around the shaft but with a gap for the keyway, and not be wider than the wheel bore) wax the steerer shaft and clean the shim on both sides and the ID of the wheel.. apply a little epoxy to the shim and the wheel bore and install and let set.. ya should be able to remove the wheel and it should be tight on the shaft..

 

[Alan]

I like Claude's idea. A small strip of roofing flashing cut to size might do the trick. If need be you can enlarge the hole in the hub till you get a tight fit.

 

[scottdube]

So I went to a machine shop to have them bore the hub out and place a bushing in there to fix it the "right way". Problem was it would not fit on their mill to broach the keyway. He said hey why don't you take some shim stock and try that. So that's what I ended up doing today. .0010 SS shim stock. I had to use a little bit of dish soap to get the wheel on but it is now nice and tight. I also added a shaft collar like the one Donalex suggested. I got it from Mcmaster-Carr though for 26 bucks it's 1'2 wide rather than 3/8 but works just fine. Here's the link

Thanks everybody!

 

[kloudie1]

Great ! gald that it is done !

 

[Steve Dion]

Scott:

Why don't you try a wheel from another boat and see if the that is the problem. I would bet you can find a wheel at a "junkyard" that will fit if this is the problem.

Maybe you should consider one of those nice folding wheels for the price of a new Edson.

 

[Don12364]

Glad the collar did the trick. For info the 'lever arm' of a 30" diameter wheel is longer than any wrench you might use to tighten the nut so no wonder it works loose.

For what its worth, like you I decided to take my wheel to have it machined to accept a 'TaperLock'. My boat is on a mooring so I took the wheel off and still holding it, stepped confidently into my dinghy. Unfortunately I missed my footing and, with the wheel held chest high, I did a little dance with the tender instantly responding to my heavy feet.
Not quite Fred and Ginger stuff though!

I just had time to contemplate whether I could swim whilst still holding the wheel and also wondered how fast I would sink if I didn't let go. Very rapidly I concluded the answer was negative to both questions so I deliberately allowed my body to collapse into the bottom of the dinghy.
Unfortunately I fell backwards right across the dinghy's small plywood foredeck demolishing it completely.
Anyway the wheel was safe.

Only when I got the darned thing home did I realize that nobody I knew had a milling machine with a large enough throat to reach the centre boss - exactly as you found.
This, after several years of making digital controllers for milling centres and other machine tools too.
We live and learn.