Why would they be pumping the rudder to it's max during turbulence? To me, turbulence is mostly about pitch and roll, not so much about yaw. For sure, on those occations when I have been hand flying in turbulence, the use of rudder has never been needed. Then again, I've never been in severe turbulence.
An upset recovery could trigger full use of rudder, but mostly in a nose up, low speed situation. It would not need "pumping" in this situation.
This aircraft fell out of the sky. Bits and pieces are known to fall off when this happens.
On the issue of fuel (or lack of), I can safely say that I have never been in a cockpit where this has even been discussed when faced with a diversion around weather. It simply doesn't cost that much to deviate 20-30-40-50 miles around weather.