Dissolving corrosion in B32 rudder tube

[stevecal]

Apologies for previous post. Don't know what happened. The rudder on my Bav 32 has stiffened up. The lower bearing apparently gets pressed hard against the stock by corrosion building up behind the bearing. On removing the rudder the bearing was seized solid in the tube. It needs to be rotated 90 deg to remove it. Is there any chemical that I can put down the tube to dissolve the corrosion? I don't think the bearing is badly worn and am hoping to save it rather than cutting it out.

 

[vyv_cox]

Need more information. What's the composition of the tube? Are you sure there is corrosion product there, not just the plastic bearing swelling after immersion?

 

[TiggerToo]

is there any way you can get some "Teflon" containing lube down the stock? Tigger's rudder has a similar problem, and doing this (using plenty of PTFE-lubricant) loosened it up. It took time.

Eventually, I managed to replace a "cap" on the top of the rudderstock which prevents water from running down the bearings, and the problem has not resurfaced for the last 6 years.... fingers crossed.

 

[TiggerToo]

Need more information. What's the composition of the tube? Are you sure there is corrosion product there, not just the plastic bearing swelling after immersion?

of course I don't know what the bav's problem is. All I know is that everyone (including Dufor) suggested that Tigger's problem was the one you say, and taht I shoudl have dropped the rudder.

In the end, it was one of those problems whose solution turned out to be easier that anyone expected (except that the "cap" cost me a whopping £85 IIRC.... I swore at the time, but it was a lot cheaper than dropping the rudder and replacing the bearings).

 

[stevecal]

Tube is aluminium. Apparently a common problem on B32,36,38. Others have cut out bearing, cleaned corrosion and fitted new bearing. Problem solved. I would like to try and save the bearing

 

[vyv_cox]

Sodium carbonate (washing soda) used to be recommended for cleaning up aluminium cylinder heads on motorbikes. Only problem is it needs to be hot for several minutes to do any good. If you can plug the tube and tip boiling solution in it might do some good.