Chrysler Sailors Forum

So I am trying to drop my rudder to deal with the unacceptable amount of slop I have now. I suspect I will be replacing the mushroom bearings. Right now I can't get the rudder head off. It has 3 Phillips head screws holding it on that refuse to come out. Two have been Sheared off, and one remains to face my wrath on another day. I am astounded that these were screws rather than a hex head bolt. Is this a Chrysler thing, or a P.O.? I now will have to drill out these screws, and retap them. I was just curious if anyone else had this kind of difficulty who has removed their rudder. Also if anyone has a picture of a rudder head removed, I would be interested in seeing it. I'm wondering if these screws go into a grove in the rudder stock (seems unlikely) or if they just push against it. Also is there any kind of key in the stock that keeps the head locked in place? Thanks for any help (sympathy is also appreciated )

I did this work on a C22.
Philips heads and hard to work with but I got mine out.

There is no slot or groove on the C22.

Scott

EE had a key in the rudder post mated with a slot in the tiller head. There's a nut/bolt that clamps the post to the Tiller head, and even with that removed I had to press (beat) the rudder post down thru the Tiller head. Caution- when it gets loose it's very heavy and will fall hard, don't be under that thing !

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it.

My C-26 rudder collar is steel with just three bolts for set screws on the stainless steel shaft. No key or holes for the set screws in the shaft.

I just removed some frozen set screw bolts from my trailer poppets. On the one with a broken off bolt I used a combination of a left hand drill bit and a end flute mill in a variable speed drill then I was able to re-tap the hole.

On the ones that I didn't break off I used a torch then PB Blaster on the hot screw and worked them out slowly.

Good luck.

Second the PB Blaster recommendation...