tiller bar and drag link

[Ronar M]

Ronar M has the normal Mathway system and I have found the drawings as well as the company help line very useful. Ronar’s steering seems to be ok but the short tiller arm coming off the after steering box is very rusty as is the draglink arm going from it’s end to the rudder post. Has anyone any experience of getting these off? I want either to replace the parts or get them shot blasted and repainted if they are still strong enough. I have what is rather painfully known as a ‘ball breaker’ which I think will get the drag link off, but wonder how to get the tiller arm off the steering box. presumably some sort of puller will be necessary?

Cheers

Trevor

[Richard Garlant]

Hi Trevor

I had to cut the mounting studs off La Torchee with a hacksaw to get at the steering box properly. Once off I could get at the locking nut and then a puller was used. Soak the taper with penetrating fluid and once this has hopefully eased the corrosion apply pressure with the puller and tap gently. She may give way suddenly so make sure its not going to fall apart and land or hit anything vital.

Good luck

Richard

[michael bennett]

Preparation with a few days of WD 40 or similar to the taper is always a good way to go rather than a quick squirt prior to attempting removal ( sorry to repeat the obvious but it so often doesn’t happen that way, but I do try)
What does help with proper care of course is when you have the puller under a good tension, is a few judicious taps with a hammer as said above, but if you can some quick heat is a great help, but have a running hose nearby to cool it all back down.
Would stress again, with proper care, but quick expansion works where in most circumstances, unless the fittings are seriously decayed together.
Richards advice is good as it can come apart in a ‘ruddy blush’ so a line on it will help.

[Voltair]

Once its all apart, you will probably want to renew the two track rod ends (one RH thread, one LH). We found ours were the same as used on Leyland “Freight Rover” vans, and were cheaply obtained at our local motor spares company.

[Ronar M]

Thanks for all the good advice. Will have a go. Will also try to obtain the track rod ends from a ‘freight rover’ as the Mathway ones are expensive. Did you manage to hire a suitable puller? Trevor

[Voltair]

It was a year or two since I did it: we were in Norway at the time near Haugesund and we found a friendly workshop “Royksund Mekaniske Verkstad” who allowed us to moor alongside and use their tools. I seem to remember it was the ball joint nearest the gearbox that had failed, so I took the radius arm off the gearbox, and that gave me enough leverage (after unlocking the locknuts) to unscrew the link off the far balljoint. Then I was able to take the link and duff joint and radius arm into the workshop and give it some serious abuse. I don’t remember using an extractor, just a large vise, a heavy hammer and an immense stilson. I remember getting a fearful amount of black rust and crud on their beautifully clean epoxy-painted floor! I don’t think we ever changed the other ball-joint, but we carry the spare around “just in case”

[Ronar M]

Hi All, Since the correspondence above I decided not to do anything for now except to paint the tiller arm and drag link. I got all the rust off with a wire cup on my electric drill and then applied several coats of Zinga (this is a high zinc content paint which is billed as an alternative to galvanising) which has proved excellent. However I have noticed a little oil/grease oozing out of the top of the large gear box especially when it is tilted downwards on the starboard tack. There is no play in the shaft that I can detect. I guess the oil seal in the top of the box is in need of replacement (it is 39 years old). I have only short coastal passages in mind this summer and so will keep an eye on it. I will have to sort the problem out next winter as I would like to do the 2500 nm round Britain route next summer. Has anyone tackled the removal of the gear box and replacement of this oil seal? If so I would welcome advice.
Trevor

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