Stuck Impellers

Anyone have any advice on pulling stuck water pump impellers?* I guess maybe I'm off to try to find a puller.

*

PB blaster , sure it wrecks the rubber , and a thin screw driver to slowly pass around the outside of the impeller , which may be melted in place.

Then 2 screw drivers with mucho care can usually pry it out.

Sometimes simple needle nose on the remaining rubber will do.

Do not damage the cover sealing space.

If the space permits you can have someone job the engine a few degrees with the starter while you pull the impeller with vise grips. That will ususlly unstick it. Make sure*whomever is jogging the engine *keeps the stop button depressed.

*

I recommend you buy a Jabsco impeller puller (around $45). It's quite simply the right tool for the job. Various types of levers may work, but most of the*force applied tends to be in the wrong direction and you run the risk* of damaging the corners of your pump casing (does that sound familiar?).*There are two sizes: 2-1/4" to 2-9/16"* and 3-1/16" to 5". Most of us would need the smaller.

Thanks for the advice. I just bough the impeller puller - worked like a charm, Mike.

Glad it worked Red. Its surprising how many "friends" just happen to drop by when word gets around that you have one of those things!

I bought a speed seal kit. Sure makes changing the impeller easy.

I can't for the life of me figgure out why the impeller cover has those slot screws that always strip when you try to get them off. Even a phillips head would be better I guess they dont mak them in brass.

Speed seal addresses the issue.

SD

*

Talking to an old well respected diesel guy a week or so ago and he says that to take out the impeller all he does is remove the cover and*bump the engine a couple of times without starting it.* The impeller will be laying in the bilge.

Anybody done it this way?

JD wrote:
.... all he does is remove the cover and*bump the engine a couple of times without starting it.* The impeller will be laying in the bilge.

______________________________________________________________

I've never heard of that but would really like to know if it actually works!

Click to expand...

*

SeaHorse II wrote:JD wrote:
.... all he does is remove the cover and*bump the engine a couple of times without starting it.* The impeller will be laying in the bilge.

______________________________________________________________

I've never heard of that but would really like to know if it actually works.

Click to expand...

*I figure you can't really hurt anything, even if the engine starts as long as you do a quick kill.* With no water flow the impeller blades can't go far and you were going to change it anyway.

I have just finished changing the impellers on my twin Yanmars. The pump on the port engine is outboard next to the fuel tank, so access and visibility are poor. I had to use a mirror to see what I was doing - I would have made a horrible dentist!

I struggled with the tie-wrap method of compressing the vanes and came up with a plastic version of a piston ring compressor - worked like a charm and cheap too! The plastic strip/sleeve was cut from the side of a gallon ice cream container - sort of Tupperware material. The hose clamp will squeeze the sleeve/impeller sufficiently that it will just slide inside the pump barrel. Push it in 1/2" or so, push the impeller out and withdraw the sleeve. Plenty of silicone grease on the impeller and sleeve, plus Never Seize (thank you Charles) on the splines.

I had to pull my stbd pump due to a water seal leak around the shaft. I found the seal kit online for about $65 but the skills required to remove the old seals and press the new seals into place exceeded my skillset. A trip to the local pump repair shop took care of that for about $90.

I had considered the SpeedSeal conversion, but at $150 for both engines, it seemed a bit expensive. Since I had the pump in hand, I headed to the local hardware store and found SS allen wrench head 8-32 screws for $0.23 a piece. I bought enough for both pumps (a whopping $3!) and installed them on the new pump with anti-corrosive grease. This should make impeller replacement much simpler than struggling with the old stbd slot and port phillips head screws.

A bead blasted pump, new coat of primer and a few coats of Ford Blue engine paint and we're ready to reinstall.

Before:


After:

JD said:

Talking to an old well respected diesel guy a week or so ago and he says that to take out the impeller all he does is remove the cover and*bump the engine a couple of times without starting it.* The impeller will be laying in the bilge.

Anybody done it this way?

Click to expand...

I guess this is one of those things where "your mileage may vary". I tried it when I was going through the frustration of removing the impeller from my main and this didn't do a thing. I like the look of that puller - next time it gives me trouble I'll be getting one.

Dave

Nice job FlyWright, do you own a bead blaster? If so, details please.

A guy on BoatDiesel had modified his Jabsco puller to work in confined spaces - easy enough to do and worth the effort.

Or this for the impeller ? :
tie wrap - Buscar con Google

Norbert

Changing my impellers turned out to be a tougher job than I had imagined due to the short clearance around the impeller housing plate. Here's a link to a thread on another boating website where I detailed how I installed the new impellers.

http://www.boatingabc.com/forums/ub...othing_is_ever_as_easy_as_it_.html#Post534238

Only my Lehmanns works with impeller pump. My two Westerbeke runs with this type of pump:
March AC-5A-MD Magnetic Drive Pump
The best impeller-pump !
Norbert

Shoalwaters said:

Nice job FlyWright, do you own a bead blaster? If so, details please.

A guy on BoatDiesel had modified his Jabsco puller to work in confined spaces - easy enough to do and worth the effort.

Click to expand...

The guys who rebuilt the pump bead blasted the housing for me at no cost. If I need a bead blaster, I have access to one in a friend's shop.

If I need to coax an impeller out, I found these tools helps me get a hold on the part. I slide them in between the blades and pull from the forward edge of the impeller. I tried a puller, but I don't have the required clearance behind the pump to use it.

Al are those packing removers? Whatever they are, where'd you get them?

GFC said:

Changing my impellers turned out to be a tougher job than I had imagined due to the short clearance around the impeller housing plate. Here's a link to a thread on another boating website where I detailed how I installed the new impellers.

Click to expand...

Good thinking on those longer bolts Mike. Matt and I managed to change our starboard impeller and hired out the port one. Neither of us could come close to reaching it. The mechanic said it was the worst one he'd ever done.

Pineapple Girl said:

Al are those packing removers? Whatever they are, where'd you get them?

Click to expand...

They are half of my Harbor Freight Tools 4-piece Pick and Hook set.

Hurry down...they're on sale now for $0.99!!

I just changed my impellers a couple of weeks ago. I used the two screwdriver method. One came out pretty easily and the other one took some coaxing (#@%*).

One of the impellers had some pieces missing. Fortunately, I didn’t find any pieces when I checked the heat exchanger.
Jabsco recommends not using screwdrivers because of the possibility of gouging the pump walls and wear plate.
They also want to sell you their puller. If I was going to change impellers annually as recommended, I would probably buy one. I think they sell them at West Marine.

One of the new impellers went back in easily and the other took some coaxing again.
Make sure you really lube up the walls and the new impeller big time. I used Dawn.

When you take the old impeller out, check to see if the shaft is keyed or splined. You also might want to take a pic of the direction the blades were bending.

You probably want to take the old impeller with you when you go to buy some new ones. Pick up the kit. It has the gasket and shaft end cover in it.
I bought two spares.
Have fun. KJ

KJ said:

One of the impellers had some pieces missing. Fortunately, I didn’t find any pieces when I checked the heat exchanger.

Click to expand...

Where do you suppose they are? Stuck somewhere in the system, before they got to the heat exchanger, causing a restriction in flow? I 'd want to know!

I've found needle nose pliers work very well to remove impellers.

The impeller can wear a "groove" in the cover plate of the raw water pump over time. At least it can on the Jabsco raw water pump used on a stock FL120. As this happens the pump begins to loose its "compression" because some of the water can slip past between the impeller and the cover plate and the water flow will be reduced.

Our diesel shop in Bellingham taught me a technique that doubles the service life of the cover and that is when the inside of the cover begins to "groove" simply flip it over. The fact there is some writing engraved on the outside of the cover doesn't matter. Put the grooved side out and the smooth side in and get the same life out of the cover you did the first time.

Not until both sides of the cover plate have the groove worn in them do you need to buy a new cover. We did this until we replaced both of the stock raw water setups with new Johnson pumps. So far their covers show no sign of grooving.

Some Jabsco pumps also have a wear plate on the inner side of the impeller. My model, #10970, has this fwd wear plate which can also be reversed when needed.

Seadog makes a less expensive knock off of the Jabsco Impeller puller. It looks pretty good but I've never used one. Jabsco pullers work very well.

Link: Sea-Dog : Quality Marine, Industrial and Rigging Hardware

Bay Shore Marine makes an impeller puller that works very well when you don't have enough room for a conventional puller or have to work blind. This one tamed my Yanmar pump and is now one of my new favorite tools.




Link: IMPELLER PULLER

SeaHorse II said:

Where do you suppose they are? Stuck somewhere in the system, before they got to the heat exchanger, causing a restriction in flow? I 'd want to know!

Click to expand...

I think most of the pieces came out with the impeller. There is oil cooler between the pump and the heat exchanger. Some pieces might have settled in the hose elbows, but so far they haven’t interfered with the flow.

I’ve run the engines several times since I changed the impellers, and they both run fine. The water flow coming out of both exhausts is very good. All temps and press are normal.

I was planning on doing an overhaul on the heat exchangers this summer. I can flush the whole system then. KJ

I can't for the life of me figgure out why the impeller cover has those slot screws that always strip when you try to get them off. Even a phillips head would be better I guess they dont mak them in brass.

YES , best of all you can insert the allen wrench by feel , no need to even see the screw heads.,

The SS of hardware stores is suspect , so we simply replace them with each impeller.