Richard, Make sure to use a non-petroleum based lubricant for the bearings that support the wheel shaft (such as Superlube or other Teflon based grease). Don’t squirt WD-40 or any light weight spray lubricant into the grease holes as it will tend to flush any lube out of the nylon caged bearings. You can also check to see if the bearings are worn if you can move the wheel shaft up and down, or side to side. There should be no play in the shaft at all..
Edson does sell a “pedestal rebuild kit” that includes bearings, circlips and all the other thrust washers and replacement components for the wheel shaft. If you go down that road, I’d also take the time to replace the brake shoes if everything else is apart. The other possibility for your squeaky noise is the sheave pins (axles) for the bronze idler wheels. They ride on plain bushings and in the “old days” the axles were also bronze, which will wear out eventually and allow the sheaves to go flying into the bilge under tension at the worst possible time. If those have never been checked, replaced with stainless pins, or lubricated as described in Edson’s steering maintenance instructions, I would certainly do so. Once the sheave pins wear, the sheaves go out of alignment and the squeaking you hear may be the axles getting ready to let go. Finally, the Edson Idler plate at the base of the pedestal is generally made of mild steel below the deck. Not terribly subjected to the elements, but they can and will eventually start to rust. Once that happens, sheaves, cable alignments and other critical steering components can be affected, so check for a rusty idler plate as well as wobbly sheave uprights. Whatever you do, don’t wait for it to fail to fix it.. Boats without steering are not safe by any stretch of the imagination. The folks at Edson are very good at walking you through what you need and they have data sheets on most every C&C Steering system they sold for our boats. Cheers, Chuck Gilchrest S/V Half Magic 1983 35 Landfall Padanaram, MA From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Joel Aronson via CnC-List Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2017 9:42 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Cc: Joel Aronson <joel.aron...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Stus-List wheel squeak Is it an Edson pedestal? If so, there are two places to squeeze in grease under the compass. If you look on YouTube there are Edson videos on replacing the bearings and they show the grease points. I just did the bearing replacement on my current boat. Joel On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 9:34 AM, Richard Walter via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com <mailto:cnc-list@cnc-list.com> > wrote: Greetings, The wheel on our 1978 36-footer has always squeaked to varying degrees. Anyone found a solution to squeaky wheels? When it comes to getting grease, I cannot locate a grease fitting (Zerc). Anyone added one? Thank you, Richard s/v INDIGO _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated! -- Joel 301 541 8551
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
