We had play with our rudder in our 385. It also “squeaked” under load. I was worried that the bearings would be difficult to remove after I had dropped the rudder. In fact they came out with no difficulty at all. I believe that the bearing was rotating within its casing tube (the rudder stock not rotating relative to the bearing). Thus, when the rudder turned the outer surface of the bearing rubbed against the casing tube. This resulted in the casing adjacient to the lower bearing becoming slightly eliptical due to wear (up to 0.4mm of wear) . There was minimal wear for the upper bearing. I polished the rudder stock and replaced the bearings (which where specially machined to be a tighter fit) using a mastic/adhesive (3M Sealant/Adhesive 5200 I think). This seems to have resolved my problem.
The membership association for owners of Dufour Yachts