Torqeedo bearings question.

[SiteSurfer]

Hi all, I've just purchased an 1103 and wanted to enquire if any existing users had a very (very) stiff tiller handle rotation?
I'm talking about the rotation from left to right to direct the motor, mine started quite ok and after a few uses, yesterday has almost got to the point where i cant turn the tiller handle.

Before I ring Torqeedo in the morning to ask whether i can adjust anything I thought I'd shortcut and see if you folks had a similar experience to me and had a fix.
I'm also intrigued by what performance figures you are seeing, i am seeing about 18km on the gauge at 100% - seem about right?

 

[skirmisher]

I had this on my Travel 503 too. I found a way to adjust the friction by slackening off the two screws that clamp the leg to the bushing a fraction. You have to remove a little grey cover on the leg to get at the clamp, this is immediately behind the transom clamp on mine. Mine was also squeaking when I moved the tiller, but a bit of silicone spray on the bushing sorted that.

Can't comment on range as I have different motor.

 

[SiteSurfer]

Brilliant thank you, I will go and have a fiddle in that area. That does sound remarkably similar to what mine looks like - I was wondering if the tolerances of the bush might simply be too great (as in the factory had tweaked it up a bit too much) but couldn't explain why it got stiffer and stiffer.

 

[MoodySabre]

Range is dependent on speed and payload. I forget the exact numbers but it was something like 2.5 hours at 2kn but only 40 mins at 4kn. You may have the larger battery.

 

[SiteSurfer]

All sorted, exactly as described. Loosened the bush fractionally and added a bit of lubricant for good measure, sweet as now.

 

[Adrian]

All sorted, exactly as described. Loosened the bush fractionally and added a bit of lubricant for good measure, sweet as now.

Make sure you wash it off with fresh water too, mine got clogged up with salt deposits as soon as I washed it off it freed up

 

[SiteSurfer]

Thank you, in fairness to the salt - this was after a day, but points are taken. The shaft appeared to have small black bits on it which I have taken to be from the collar, it was simply too tight - unsure why it got tighter unless it was the plastic dust grinding.