Rudder and port replacement

I have 1994 196, 473 hrs on it. Always in fresh water. I am the original owner. I have maintained it myself. A couple of years ago I found out the rudder port had a grease zerk. The owners manual had no mention of this. I found it out when I had the fuel tank out for a fuel sender replacement. I have had some play in the rudder(not steering)and when I grease the port the play is all but gone. Once grease has washed out again play is back and the steering becomes a little stiff when going to Starboard especially when coming out of a hard port turn and accelerating. When greased there is very little of this difficulty. Once grease gets washed out again its back. I have talked to whitelake marine and he thought maybe only needed to repack the rudder stuffing box. I have adjusted this no real help. I think it may be ovaled out some and may need to replace the assembly. What do you think? Where can I get a replacement? Too expensive from the dealer. Buck Alogonquin told me that they would recommend the OEM replacment from Nautique as it will be a direct fit. Any help would be great.

I find it pretty hard to believe that the assembly is out of round and needs to be replaced. That hardware is heavy duty. Might take it apart, inspect everything and reassemble before dropping the $ on a a new assembly.