Catalina 350 International Association

Has anyone replaced or serviced the bearings on the steering pedestal shaft, and if so, can you describe how you went about it. I contacted Edson and there are no diagrams, rebuild kits, or instructions for the C350 pedestal (though they did give me some part numbers if I want to attempt this). I was informed that the forward bearing is a sealed lifetime type which is ok if it doesn't make clunking sounds when the wheel is turned, but the aft needle bearings are more typical meaning they should be serviced. I was also told that to remove the shaft the fiberglass head needs to be removed, and on my boat it looks like it is glued to the pedestal, not to mention all the wiring. Has anyone found a way to service/replace this aft needle bearing without removing the pedestal head or shaft???

Thanks,
Bill VanWagoner

Disassembly, I can't help you with. I did successfully grease both bearings in place last year on ours. The needle bearing case (I believe they call it a liner in the diagram) has an access hole in it. I was able to squirt grease in using a small tube of teflon grease that I had. Both bearings on ours were needle bearings from what I remember. I had to pull the compass and the gauge cluster panel loose (didn't have to disconnect anything) to work on it.

Edit: I was looking at the wrong diagram above, but if you look at this blowup below you can see the access hole for the rear bearing grease on Part #17. The front bearing also had some sort of slot for grease access, but I don't see what it rides on in the diagram.

https://edsonmarine.com/content/EB-500- ... 11T%29.pdf

Even though this is not our pedestal below, it was the maintenance sheet that clued me into what to look for and how to grease them:

https://www.usna.edu/Sailing/_files/doc ... eering.pdf

Hi Bill,

I have had it fully apart when I replaced my pedestal a few years ago (see Mainsheet Fall 2018). Here is the picture that had taken of the assembly. Yes the head has to come off, my guess is that they used some sort of sealing adhesive (don't think it was 5200, as it did finally come apart). I did take the opportunity to re-wire the pedestal when I did it. That wasn't small job. But if you photo well the wiring harness should be connected via a screw block terminal. The big secret was that to get the wheel shaft out there are two retaining rings on the shaft. They are hard to see and you might miss them among the grease (yellow arrow in the pic). Once those are out the shaft pulls out fairly easily. I don't remember the bearing being too difficult to remove, but you can see it in the pic.

Hope this helps,
Scott