william.haas
1990 Ericson 28-2
Weather in Chicago today was less than 5 knots of wind, 50F, and rainy so I figured it was the perfect time to replace my wheel brake. I had previously bought the rebuild kit from Edson and everything seemed like it would be very straight forward (except this was a boat project and I should have known better). Diving into the project I set out all my tools and supplies, donned latex gloves, and removed the binnacle compass. My next step was to remove the engine controls which involves simply removing two cotter pins and two clevis pins and lifting off the housing… that is unless someone used 5200 to permanently attach the housing to the pedestal.
I figured this would be a set back but something I could work with… just less clearance and a deeper reach. After two hours I finally had removed the small cotter pin from the wheel brake shaft allowing me to fully disassemble the brake and install the replacement parts.
With the engine control housing in place it is impossible to approach the pin vertically (or by rotating the brake shaft at any angle) from the top… and with your hand on the pliers there’s essentially no space to work. The 2.5 inches gained from removing the engine control housing would make all the difference.
After trying to install the new cotter pin by working every angle and some not so creative tool modifications I gave up for the day. Tomorrow I will go to the orange store in search of some very long, narrow needle nose pliers and hope that allows me to install the pin. Then it’s chain maintenance while I’m in there, a few screws and pins to put everything back, a wipe down, and a cocktail (or many).
Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any brilliant suggestions other than pliers which may not exist?
At least one install went well today…
I figured this would be a set back but something I could work with… just less clearance and a deeper reach. After two hours I finally had removed the small cotter pin from the wheel brake shaft allowing me to fully disassemble the brake and install the replacement parts.
With the engine control housing in place it is impossible to approach the pin vertically (or by rotating the brake shaft at any angle) from the top… and with your hand on the pliers there’s essentially no space to work. The 2.5 inches gained from removing the engine control housing would make all the difference.
After trying to install the new cotter pin by working every angle and some not so creative tool modifications I gave up for the day. Tomorrow I will go to the orange store in search of some very long, narrow needle nose pliers and hope that allows me to install the pin. Then it’s chain maintenance while I’m in there, a few screws and pins to put everything back, a wipe down, and a cocktail (or many).
Has anyone else encountered this issue? Any brilliant suggestions other than pliers which may not exist?
At least one install went well today…