Aries Windvane tech issue

[sailor Martin]

Hi all
I just bought a used old partially dismantled Aries and I'm having trouble assorting it.

The issue is that the stainless steel tube #63 (servo rudder spindle)? Doesn't fit in nicely through the upper teplon bearing..it goes fine through the bottom one, even with minor play but will only go inside the upper one if I use force with a hammer and a piece of wood. Once starting to slide in, it is completely seized so cannot turn. I tried this half way in and then took it out.

Last owner cannot help

Should I machine the bearing bigger?
Or am I doing something wrong?

Cheers

[olaf hart]

I had to get mine remachined, they swell over time and it just takes a fraction of a millimeter to jam them up.

I think they swell more if they are wet.

[sailor Martin]

Originally Posted by olaf hart

I had to get mine remachined, they swell over time and it just takes a fraction of a millimeter to jam them up.

I think they swell more if they are wet.

Did you manage to remove the bearing without damaging it?
Any tips?

[olaf hart]

I took it to a machine shop and they did it in situ, doubt they would survive removal..

[sailor Martin]

Originally Posted by olaf hart

I took it to a machine shop and they did it in situ, doubt they would survive removal..

Was it the upper one or lower one?
My guess is they wouldn't be able to machine the upper while inside

[olaf hart]

It was a while ago, I thought they did both, I just dropped off the shaft and housing and picked it up a week later, no idea who it was done.

The shaft still turned, it was just tight..

[Jim Cate]

If you can find a reamer of the correct size, they can be driven by hand or a drill motor and likely work in situ.

Jim

[roverhi]

I cured the swelling plastic bearings with a pen knife in the Marquesas. Later smoothed the rough gouges with a ream from a machine shop.

[CassidyNZ]

I’m not sure what size the bush is, have you considered using a parallel adjustable reamer? Unfortunately the bigger ones can get expensive but maybe there is a less-than-top-quality one available from Amazon or similar that will work.

Easy to use, quite accurate, certainly accurate enough for your purposes.

Do some research, they’re not hard to find.

[ussvdharma]

Why not just use your finger of course withg corse sand anbd then fine sand paper or emery cloth to take out a slight amount of the bearings inner mounting hole diameter...you pipe could then easily fit.


If you have a break away steering rudder in the water be sure to put a line on it so it wont be lost in case of a break away....and put a loop in the line down on the bottom end.....I had to climb over stern railing and down onto the wind vane to replace that line at sea. a scary situation in the middle of the pacific on a solo crossing..


I now recommend to ALWAYS put that loop at the bottom, then easy to grab it with boat hook and save your butt for swimming. de W7KFI ussvdharma

[Ramona]

I would suggest watching this video before doing anything major.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgpSv0jL2gY

[George DuBose]

The new owner of Aries, Lean Nelis, is a very nice Dutchman. I bought a used #5 lift up model and he replaced one part and gave it a clean bill of health. I had lost part #295, the connecting rod between the vane bracket and the main servo gear and Lean had been making the connecting rod with carbon fiber tubing and delrin ends, but he couldn't find the small retaining clips or who produced them originally. My sister-in-law found the right size omega spring clips in a garden catalog and I had a British engineer produce retaining clips with PLA+ plastic and a 3D printer.

Lean prefers to be contacted by email, when he is working his machines make it hard to hear the phone. I find he responds to text messages the fastest. His address and phone number is on the Aries website.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

If you can find a reamer of the correct size, they can be driven by hand or a drill motor and likely work in situ.

Jim

Although I would not try to drive a bigish one with a drill. A lot of garages used to have them to ream out the bushings on the steering so the pins would fit.

[ShadyLady]

Many years ago I had a similar problem. I found that the source of the problem was aluminium corrosion particularly on the inside of the servo rudder casting - outside the bush (rather than swelling of the bush itself). I removed the bush, cleaned up the corrosion and then replaced the bush with a coating of a mixture of Duralac and lanolin grease to inhibit future metal corrosion. Everything was nice and loose again for several more years of service.

[Jim Cate]

with a coating of a mixture of Duralac and lanolin grease to inhibit future metal corrosion.

that's an interesting combination, one that I've not run into before. Does it set up like plain Durlac does or does it remain "greasy"? And what proportion of the ingredients is used?

Always on the lookout for stuff that helps avoid degradation in our hostile environment.

Jim