When I removed my rudder bearings, the bottom bearing came out fairly easily by inserting a steel rod into the shaft from the top and hitting it down with a hammer.The top bearing was very stubborn, and after trying to grind it out with a dremel it was finally dislodged by bolting a washer the size of the bearing to a piece of althread and pounding it up from underneath. There was a little bit of pitting inside of the shaft that I repaired with epoxy.I can't remember if I epoxyed or used 4000 adhesive to install the new bearings, but after fighting so hard to get the old one out I didn't use enough and recently noticed my bottom bearing has a littl bit of play in it.

::
::
:: :: :: I just had a similar problem with my bearings, you might
:: :: :: have seen a couple of posts that I sent here... The
:: :: :: bearings were replaced, Buzz made both new top and
:: :: :: bottom bearings with a fast turn around for right about
:: :: :: $100.00..The boat's rudder is perfect now.
:: :: ::
:: :: :: ::
:: :: :: ::
:: :: :: :: Definitely not normal. Buzz Ballenger can make new
:: :: :: :: rudder bearings for you.
:: ::
:: ::
:: :: How do you remove the old bearings and how do you
:: :: install the new ones?
::
:: Just drop the rudderby removing the tiller head (helps
:: to have two people) one removing the tiller head and
:: keeper bolts and one to hold the rudder. The bearings
:: will be exposed and you can simply slide them off the
:: shaft of the rudder or pull them out of the hull
:: depending on where they end up with the rudder out. Its
:: a simple fix, but the boat does need to be out of the
:: water to complete the swap.