Whitlock Cobra 5R post assembly binding

[SousLeVent]

Howdy Gang,
Recently purchased a 1990 32s5 and, with no history, am going through all the systems on the boat. I pulled the pedestal and checked pinion, quadrant gear and bearings. Really in impressive shape. So, clean, re-grease and assemble. after putting it back together I have some pretty rough binding. My theory is that the teeth wear pattern allowed for smooth meshing, but after assemble the pinion and quadrant teeth didn't match the same baseline location. The best I seem to get is one full turn before I feel binding.

My theory is that the wear pattern is driven by hard over port and starboard, so that the quadrant teeth are distorted to one side and the pinion gear wear matched, but with some worn on both sides while a minority have just one side distorted. After a couple of hours with a jewelers file, I have the pinion pretty much uniform. I have plenty of metal left for the proper wear pattern to re-emerge. Ideally I'll be able to reshape on the quadrant gear, but I don't want to grind of the tiller are to do so.

Have y'all encountered anything similar after pulling the pinion and then re-assembling?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[smacklin]

I have a 92 35s5 with same pedestal that I had to rebuild 2 years ago (bottom bearings). I did not see any distortion or problems with the main gear-pinion at the top. What I did note is that it is important to re-install the thin spacers under the main gear housing as well as in line on the wheel shaft. They are thin, but don't discount the alignment they provide. Also note that the whole thing is held in place by the black plastic spacer at the top of the shaft pressed down by the top plate. Over-tightening the top plate (or say replacing it) could put too much binding pressure downward. / Steve