On Friday, May 23, 2014 7:12:36 AM UTC-7, Mike J. wrote:
Is there a simple, not too painful way to replace these sleeves?



Mike

Mike,

I used Teflon tubing on a Stemme S10-VT that for whatever reason had *no* S-tube liner. Thin wall tubeing with the correct ID (1/8" IIRC) and an OD that will fit into ID of S-tube. Make a tubing splitter frpmtwo small blocks of wood, each with a corner sanded off to make a "V" when clamped together with the tip of a utility knife blade between them sticking up at an angle just enough to slice through one tubing wall. Tubing is then pulled through the V and splits tube nicely without any spiral.

To install, start the split tubing over cable and slide into S-tube as far a possible. Slide rudder adjustment forward while holding split tube in position. Clamp split tubing onto cable a suitable distance from S-tube and slide rudder adjustment back toward you while holding split tubing so it enters S-tube and doesn't "buckle off" cable - repeat.

There's probably better tubing choices available than nylon or teflon for this purpose. Teflon is very slick but not so mechanically strong. UHMW polyethylene tubing is both slippery and has excellent mechanical strength - often used for anti-chafe and rubbing or wear blocks. UHMW, like nylon, and to a lesser extent Teflon, is semi-rigid. UHMW also does not absorb moisture as does nylon.

bumper