fixing loose Edson radial drive wheel
Patrick, when I got it, my 79 H33 had looseness between the radial drive wheel and the rudder post causing the sloppy steering you describe. On my boat, the drive wheel and the rudder post are clamped together with four bolts through the two halves of the wheel and there is a key in grooves in rudder post and drive wheel to positively prevent relative rotation like your bolt does. I compensated for the wear in the soft aluminum wheel by disassembling it and machining a slight amount from each half where they mate together, thus effectively reducing the diameter of the hole and allowing the bolts to tighten the wheel securely on the rudder shaft. I was able to do this machining with a woodworking jointer, taking very very light passes as the aluminum is really very soft. This was four years ago and there has been no looseness between wheel and shaft since.
