[QUOTE=mike cunningham;26017]No the upper bearing was up at the deck, set in just below where the base of the tiller was attached. So the upper and lower bearings (Jeffa roller bearings I think) were pretty far apart, which is good.
I did have an issue where the new rudder I put on was carbon fiber , and was pretty buoyant, and so tended to push up against the lower bearing, and even nearly pushed it half out, so I had to get an additional Delrin spacer/stop made up and installed to prevent this.
[MORE] My boat was 34' and 10500 lbs and I loved having a tiller, even more so for shorthanding. From my cold, dead hands etc.