Spinning my wheel

[stefan feuerabendt]

So, we were racing this weekend in a 15 kt breeze and all of a sudden the wheel starts spinning...no connection to the rudder.  We were able to quickly douse the sails and use the emergency tiller.  Auto pilot also works.  Looked underneath the pedestal and all looks good.  Dove under the boat, all good.  I'm thinking a woodruff key may have failed? The wheel has had some play in it which might have been an early sign that something was not quite right.

Any experience with this sort of thing?  Was it easy to replace the key, or does the entire binnacle need to be opened up.  Can I just remove the wheel and the plate underneath it?  I'm a little nervous about opening the whole thing up.

We have an Edson binnacle.

[Sean Motta]

At the bottom of the torque tube you’re saying you fully inspected the tiller arm and drag rod? We had one of the ball joints on the rod ends fail a few years ago. 

The keys are easy to get too. Edson has great customer support - I just rebuilt my entire pedestal a few months ago and they were great to work with. 

Sean

Sean Motta

USA 52910

J/42 Hull # 50

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[Larry Romano]

Hi

Did you check the chain and cable that moves the rudder carefully?? Did you have someone turn the wheel while watching the rudder post?

Larry 

J40 #67

On Jul 9, 2025, at 2:41 PM, Sean Motta <sean...@gmail.com> wrote:



At the bottom of the torque tube you’re saying you fully inspected the tiller arm and drag rod? We had one of the ball joints on the rod ends fail a few years ago. 

<IMG_6195.jpeg>

The keys are easy to get too. Edson has great customer support - I just rebuilt my entire pedestal a few months ago and they were great to work with. 

Sean

Sean Motta

USA 52910

J/42 Hull # 50

On Wed, Jul 9, 2025 at 14:26 'stefan feuerabendt' via J/4X Owner's Group <j4x-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

<Screenshot 2025-07-06 at 2.39.40 PM.JPEG>

So, we were racing this weekend in a 15 kt breeze and all of a sudden the wheel starts spinning...no connection to the rudder.  We were able to quickly douse the sails and use the emergency tiller.  Auto pilot also works.  Looked underneath the pedestal and all looks good.  Dove under the boat, all good.  I'm thinking a woodruff key may have failed? The wheel has had some play in it which might have been an early sign that something was not quite right.

Any experience with this sort of thing?  Was it easy to replace the key, or does the entire binnacle need to be opened up.  Can I just remove the wheel and the plate underneath it?  I'm a little nervous about opening the whole thing up.

We have an Edson binnacle.

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[Graeme Nichol]

Greetings, we had a wild gybe and ripped our pedestal in half. I found a replacement at a boat scrapyard and rebuilt everything. While I was doing it all I replaced what I could with new parts from Edson. The cables and interior attachment parts are J40 specific. Nothing worked until they got Alden Tangen involved. He knows his stuff and was great to work with, (508) 995-9711,  al...@edsonintl.com.

He can walk you through figuring it all out. 

Oh, don’t forget that the cables need to cross…Yeah that was an exciting learning experience! 😆

Graeme

SV Fin J40

Sail, Relax, Repeat

       ~~~ _/) ~~~

On Jul 9, 2025, at 16:26, Larry Romano <j40r...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/5BC769AD-5A8E-4142-850F-E290B5975069%40gmail.com.

[Joseph Ruzzi]

I'm not sure if this is related to your issue, but there was an article on the J/40 website about repairing the Idler Pulleys on the Edson Pedestal.  Turns out to have been a major job.

https://j40sailors.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/edson-steering-idler-plate.pdf

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/D7C60FED-DBC4-4199-8C05-74F95E7C683D%40yahoo.com.

[Stefan Feuerabendt]

Yep. Inspected that. Everything looked really good there. 

Thanks. I’ll give Edson a call as well. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 9, 2025, at 2:41 PM, Sean Motta <sean...@gmail.com> wrote:



At the bottom of the torque tube you’re saying you fully inspected the tiller arm and drag rod? We had one of the ball joints on the rod ends fail a few years ago. 

<IMG_6195.jpeg>

The keys are easy to get too. Edson has great customer support - I just rebuilt my entire pedestal a few months ago and they were great to work with. 

Sean

Sean Motta

USA 52910

J/42 Hull # 50

On Wed, Jul 9, 2025 at 14:26 'stefan feuerabendt' via J/4X Owner's Group <j4x-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

<Screenshot 2025-07-06 at 2.39.40 PM.JPEG>

So, we were racing this weekend in a 15 kt breeze and all of a sudden the wheel starts spinning...no connection to the rudder.  We were able to quickly douse the sails and use the emergency tiller.  Auto pilot also works.  Looked underneath the pedestal and all looks good.  Dove under the boat, all good.  I'm thinking a woodruff key may have failed? The wheel has had some play in it which might have been an early sign that something was not quite right.

Any experience with this sort of thing?  Was it easy to replace the key, or does the entire binnacle need to be opened up.  Can I just remove the wheel and the plate underneath it?  I'm a little nervous about opening the whole thing up.

We have an Edson binnacle.

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[Larry Romano]

Maybe the chain jumped off the gear below the compass. You need to have someone turn the wheel while you look, things we become obvious where the problem is, top or bottom.

On Jul 10, 2025, at 9:59 AM, 'Stefan Feuerabendt' via J/4X Owner's Group <j4x-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

Yep. Inspected that. Everything looked really good there. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/j4x-owners-group/FE2A36EB-4A04-436C-BD8E-F99601FE5484%40yahoo.com.

[Stefan Feuerabendt]

Problem solved. Two stainless pins that hold a semicircular gear in place (see center of pic) had worked their way free. The top of the pedestal had been quite loose and over time they just worked their way loose.   Everything now tightened up. 

I got very lucky. 

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. Much appreciated. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 10, 2025, at 2:18 PM, Larry Romano <j40r...@gmail.com> wrote:



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