Olson 34 Rudder Bearings

[Cbuydos]

Question for Olson 34 owners.

Do you have a top bearing installed for your rudder shaft at the removable port for where you insert you emergency tiller?

I was a bit shocked to not find one on my boat. Granted the current set up is quiet substantially built, but I am nervous at the amount of flex that I am seeing in the set up once the wind builds. A top self aligning bearing will eliminate this and I plan to install one. I am finding a lot of custom modifications to the boat as we upgrade systems & I have a feeling this is one of them. I will take a picture this weekend and share. I have a feeling it may have been removed, prior to our boat purchase, but I’m not sure.

Also, I take it there should be a pin in the rudder shaft for the emergency tiller to grab onto. Unfortunately not on my boat. Looks like I will need to address. If you can share an image or an outline as to how your system is set up, it will be appreciated. I’m glade to have found this issue now and not when the emergency tiller is needed.

Chris

 

[Christian Williams]

If the Olson is like the Ericsons, the top bearing of the rudder post can become loose in a remarkably invisible way. A test is to remove the plate and turn the wheel. If the rudder post is wobbling, check the four machine screws that hold in place the bearing. The nuts on the underside become loose, the bearing wobbles but the plate does not. It's just a matter of going under and the tightening the nuts.

The emergency tiller on the Ericsons seats against the pin that holds the quadrant. Maybe this applies.

E32-3 Emergency Tiller Specs

Both the rudder post extension and the crossbar are 40" long 1/8th" wall aluminum tubes. The post extension has an outside diameter of 2 and 3/8ths. The crossbar ("tiller") diameter is 1 and 1/2". The slot in the post tube is 6" long, declining in width from 3/4" to 1/2". This rig makes a...

ericsonyachts.org

 

[Loren Beach]

AFAIK there was no OEM rudder bearing in the O-34. Like the Ericsons it is sleeved with provision to insert grease via zerks, in a couple of places.
That top bearing is interesting. There is an angled piece of plywood underneath and rain water can leak down around those four big bolts. You can reach up and tighten them, with long arms, after hauling your upper body thru the access hatch in the aft berth bulkhead.
As a part of our refit, that piece of wood has been replaced with fiberglass.
(It was a good excuse to have the chrome-bronze screw-out deck plate re-chromed, and that's been done as well.)

As for adding a bearing, one yard told me, many years ago, that they just cut off the rudder tube on the inside and glass in a larger tube to accommodate the bearing assembly. Sounded rather expen$ive, so we left it alone.

Edit: found a half decent picture of the underside of the top of rudder post mounting, taken from an uncomfortable position inside the stern of the boat.

 

[CTOlsen]

Like Loren's reply, no bearing but there is a tight fit on top. Mine is on the hard at SYC to compare if you would like.
CTO

 

[Christian Williams]

Here's two views of the Ericson top "bearing." Olson is different? (just curious)

There's a Zerk on the fitting, but grease can also be applied direct under the top plate. If the bolts are snug, this rig works fine on my boats.

...

 

[67rway]

Also, I take it there should be a pin in the rudder shaft for the emergency tiller to grab onto. Unfortunately not on my boat. Looks like I will need to address. If you can share an image or an outline as to how your system is set up, it will be appreciated. I’m glade to have found this issue now and not when the emergency tiller is needed.

Chris

The pin you refer to here is the thru bolt holding the quadrant to the shaft.

As an aside: I had the e-tiller come in very handy one day when I lost steering approaching a busy starting line. Fortunate to have been on the windward end of the group! The master link in the chain had come apart; found it in the pan below.

 

[Cbuydos]

OK, so I have pictures now. From what I am hearing the Olsons don’t have a top bearing as you can see. As I said above, the rudder tube is well made, but after the flexing in the hull that I witnessed when going to weather in 18 knots, I have made the call to install a self aligning Jefa bearing in the off-season. A perfectly aligned rudder = a fast boat. The install is supper easy and will have the same type of cover plate. I’ll document the process in this post, but likely not to happen for a few months. More to come.

Craig, I will likely take you up on you offer to swing by and check out you boat.

The issue with my emergency tiller is that there is a bunch of dirt grime in the tube that I need to clean out to get the pole to engage the through bolt in the shaft. Luckily the interior diameter is large enough to get my shop vac hose down inside. I love this boat, but I am about done with all of the upgrades, maintenance and modifications that this boat has needed. I am looking forward to just enjoying the boat next season.

 

[67rway]

Chris,

Your boat appears to be missing the upper collar that fits tightly around the shaft from the under side of the deck, and attaches to the deck plate, though with somewhat (!!!) inadequate fasteners.

 

[Loren Beach]

The photo does not seem to show the interior well, same exposure problem as my camera, BTW.
There should be a metal recess there. I will try to get a photo of ours, next trip to the boat.
Also, if you find a shop that does re-chroming for custom car parts, you will be amazed at the look of that bronze fitting all shiny again.....
Price was pretty reasonable too.

 

[Christian Williams]

>>>Your boat appears to be missing the upper collar that fits tightly around the shaft

I guess that's possible, but....?

 

[Dave G.]

Collar and bearing probably slid down and laying on top of quadrant ?

 

[Cbuydos]

Thanks for the input. I had a feeling there should have been some type of support at the top of the post. New project just added to my list. Just glad to have found this now prior to some offshore sailing.

 

[Charlie B.]

Looks like the rudder bearing discussion has waned a bit! Here is some grist for the mill. I have an Olson 34 that was converted to wheel steering by the PO and had vintage Harken Bearings installed top and bottom. The bearings were installed within large diameter fiberglass tubes and held in place with adhesive and Allen screws.

Last week the upper bearing Allen screws loosened and the bearing chase lost contact with the rudder shaft. This resulted in the same wobble described above. Investigations down below revealed that a stainless sleeve had also slid down the shaft. Due to space constraints it is impossible to shove this sleeve back up the shaft to fill the space between the bearing and the shaft. Attached is photo looking up at the top bearing.

I have tried removing the upper bearing and found it solidly bound by 5200. So I am basically caught between a rock and a hard place. My short term solution is to slip a thin plastic sheet from the top to fill this space and tighten the screws to hold it. It seems to work for now, but long term it might time to update the bearings to Jeffa. Has anyone done this?

 

[Cbuydos]

Hi Charlie,

My project is on hold until the end of March/April. Needs to warm up a bit here in CT. My original bearing did in fact slip down the shaft and is sitting on top of the quadrant. Plan A is to try and get it mounted again. I know, easier said then done. Plan B is to simply install a new Jeffa bearing. I originally was just going to go in this direction until I received the $1800.00 estimate for the bearing we need for our boat. We are contemplating installing an inspection port in the cockpit for better access to the shaft. I will post pictures If we go in that direction as well as updates in the future.

 

[Charlie B.]

Ouch! $1800 for just one bearing? That’s double what I expected. Does this include the fiberglass tubing and bearings? Looking forward to your progress reports.

 

[Christian Williams]

Plan A sounds good. Where there's a will there's a way--usually very awkwardly.....