I have a 1973 27' Ericson with wheel steering . Can anyone tell me if the rudder shaft has bearings or just a brass bushing or sleeve and also is there suppose to be a zerk fitting to supply grease to the shaft? I see a small hole on the aft side of the shaft just above the cockpit sole where the emergency tiller attaches that might be where a grease fitting use to be. If not , how is the shaft supposed to be lubricated . Has anyone done a replacement project with pics. so i can see what the guts of the shaft looks like? Last sunday just as i was coming into my slip , the steering froze up . I disconnected the cables from the quadrant and all the wheel and linkage was free but the rudder was still frozen . I checked the rudder under the boat , thinking i might have picked up some line from a crabpot , but all was clear. I sprayed some WD-40 in every place on the shaft i could get to and after a while everything was loose and working fine . What bothers me is that before the steering froze up everything felt loose and there was not a sign of tight steering or binding up.