The bottom bearing in our Whitlock Cobra steering system appears to be completely shot, due we believe to water ingress through the compass binnacle housing, we have heard that to remove the bearing we need to grind off the stainless output lever, which connects to the drag link, from the down tube. Looking at an exploded diagram of the system it appears there are two pins at the top of the tube which look as if they hold the top gear quadrant on, does anyone know whether these pins can be removed and the whole down tube out rather than having to grind off the output lever? We need to know this before starting to strip down the system!
I have just uploaded some photographs taken during the disassembly of our Whitlock Cobra steeringpedestal. To disassemble you have to cut off the bottom output lever arm. You can see from the photograph that the bottom bearing was completely shot, as was the top. I originally thought that the two pins holding the top quadrant gear onto the shaft could be removed, this was not possible.
This was caused due to water ingress through the compass binnacle mounting where the cable to the light passed through the top of the pedestal and possibly through the perished gasket sealing the top plate to the pedestal.
I would have to say this is not a job for an amateur as it requires a degree of engineering skill to reassemble.
I sail a Sigma 36 out of New York and also have a Cobra steering system. The same problem: I noticed play in the steering, then the rack started jumping off the pinion, and when I investigated, I found that, just as in your pictures, the upper ballbearing has rusted away.
You need to remove it completely, including the races (i.e. the metal tracks in which the balls run), both from the shaft (picture with the bearing removed is attached) and from the bearing mounting (item 9 on the attached diagram. The attached picture shows it after the bearing and race were removed and everything cleaned), and put a new bearing on. The races will probably be stuck, so use a Dremel (carefully, and wear eye-protection) to cut them.
On my Cobra 3 system, the size of the bearing is 1" ID, 2" OD, and 5/8" width, but you may want to measure yourself.
I was a little bit at a loss with the steering problem, but called around quite a bit. Lewmar was helpful in sending me an exploded diagram (see attached) and through them I eventually found www.winchservicing.com who exclusively deal with winches and steering, in particular Lewmar systems. The owner is
Cliff Mogridge
Mobile +44 (0) 7970 820522
Phone +44 (0) 1243 430050
who was super-patient in walking me through the repair and also sourced the replacement parts, despite me being 3000 miles away. Highly recommended.
The lower bearing on my system is still working fine, but Cliff tells me that it can also be fixed should it ever break, although this would be a little bit more complicated than the upper bearing.
I sail a Sigma 36 out of New York and also have a Cobra steering system. The same problem: I noticed play in the steering, then the rack started jumping off the pinion, and when I investigated, I found that, just as in your pictures, the upper ballbearing has rusted away.
You need to remove it completely, including the races (i.e. the metal tracks in which the balls run), both from the shaft (picture with the bearing removed is attached) and from the bearing mounting (item 9 on the attached diagram. The attached picture shows it after the bearing and race were removed and everything cleaned), and put a new bearing on. The races will probably be stuck, so use a Dremel (carefully, and wear eye-protection) to cut them.
On my Cobra 3 system, the size of the bearing is 1" ID, 2" OD, and 5/8" width, but you may want to measure yourself.
I was a little bit at a loss with the steering problem, but called around quite a bit. Lewmar was helpful in sending me an exploded diagram (see attached) and through them I eventually found www.winchservicing.com who exclusively deal with winches and steering, in particular Lewmar systems. The owner is
Cliff Mogridge
Mobile +44 (0) 7970 820522 Phone +44 (0) 1243 430050
who was super-patient in walking me through the repair and also sourced the replacement parts, despite me being 3000 miles away. Highly recommended.
The lower bearing on my system is still working fine, but Cliff tells me that it can also be fixed should it ever break, although this would be a little bit more complicated than the upper bearing.
Dear MSBR sorry for the delay in replying our Cobra is a 6RDL. I also have to endorse Cliff Mogridge he is an expert in many systems, especially Whitlock and Lewmar and we engaged him to replace both the top and bottom bearings on our behalf, he really knows what he is talking about and a great accommodating guy to boot, although based near Southampton in the UK.
Hello Magnum, The past weekend we got into action and got the whole Cobra R6 DL steering system apart. We was able to remove the quadrant after heavy force of violence with a rubber hammer. When removing the tube we could see that upper bearing was completly worn out (it was just a rusty ring left) and the lower one was still in one piece but not in good shape at all. I need now to know the specifictions of the bearings that would be recommended for us to replace, also read a few posts on cheramic bearings in order to avoid rust etc .. ?
Any tip on bearings realted to material and dimensions would be helpful.
Dear MSBR, I would like to see any photo's you have as to how you removed the quadrant, useful info for future reference! I have just emailed Cliff who supplied the bearings, and requested the specification, I am in Italy at the moment but will come back to you as soon as I have a reply. Cliff is also mentioned earlier in this thread so you could contact him directly if you don't hear back from me before the weekend. Kind Regards Doug
Sent from Magnum using Cruisers Sailing Forum iPad App.
Dear Magnum, it was not a easy thing to remove the quadrant and in the process we hesitated from time to time. I Will write a detailed description on how we did at the weekend. I have some pictures as well if you like. Regarding bearing spec. please check with Cliff. So far we have traced the Number 6009 RS at the remains of the upper bearing or the ring that was letft of it
I have made a summary and some pictures. You find it on my blogg at link below. It is written in Swedsh but run it trough gogogle translate and you will be fine. If any questions I am happy to answer.
Anyone have instructions on how to replace the bearings in the pinion assembly?
I have some play in the bearings and ordered a Whitlock Pedestal Maintenance Kit #89400069. Specifically, how to remove the pin inside the break housing. It looks a screw. Is there some special tool? The vertical bearings in the Pedestal appear to be OK. I have a Cobra type steering on a 1991 CS/40
Anyone know which model is in the Wachiez (sp) 45 Kronos catamaran. Water running down the vertical shaft, right thru the differential box, and into the Lewmar Mamba auto/pilot drive. Also rusted out the bearing carrying the horizontal output shaft to the rudders. Need to find the parts, Pronto .. Thanks
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so many projects--so little time !!
I am going through the process of replacing the two vertical bearings in my Cobra 6R system at the moment. I just wanted to post that the bearings for the vertical shaft are 6009 2RS.
I spoke with Cliff at winchservicing.com and he said there is no point in sourcing stainless versions of the bearings as the balls are carbon steel anyway and they will corrode as well. The important part is to keep the pedestal watertight.
I hope this will save someone some time sourcing them in the future.
Nice post ooo, if you have any photos of the work you are doing it would be good to post them too, especially if you manage to get the pins out of the top quadrant and don't have to grind off the lower radius arm to extract the vertical shaft! Kind Reagrds Doug
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