Thanks for the info. I'll give the flathead trick a try tonight. I am curious though, why the cam doesn't pop up with pressure. If the cams are rotated all the way back towards the rudders, is this the rudder lock down position? If it is, I would think they should pop up if you applied pressure as I was doing. Otherwise, I can't see how the cams would pop up when the rudders hit the beach. It looks like there is a plastic screw underneath the rudder assembly. Is this to control the pressure on the ball? I will probably attempt the rebuild / cleaning as you suggested, but it would be good to have a nice diagam of the whole thing before I start. Are there any good links to this type of thing? I found some old assembly manuals online, but they didn't explain the workings of the locking system very well. I have an 81, and the rudder assembly looks original.