IP38 Rudder Height Drop Interfere with Weed Shoe

On my 1989 IP38 the rudder has dropped approximately 1/4 inch such that it sits on the weed shoe and of course that causes excessive resistance to moving the rudder. The gap between the wheel shaft and the top of the rudder has increased noticeably and the weed shoe has no noticeable bends. I backed out the bronze collar bolt, inspected it, raised the rudder back to its normal height and reinstalled the bolt, however the rudder settled back down to sitting on the weed shoe. What am I missing? BTW, I have not installed the shoe/shim kit mentioned in previous posts.

I'm interested in this also, when you find the answer please post it! Thx, keith

IP38-98 is now on the hard and the interference issue is not due to a bent weed shoe. Nothing has changed since I bought her in 2007 as third owner except for some bushing wear dropping the rudder by 1/8" such that the top of the rudder post is 1/8" below the bottom of the wheel shaft. Anyway, I am hoping that the factory will shed some light on this and I will report back as I find out more information.