AR190 impeller/sleeve replacement costs

[Joe Brock]

Hi everyone:
I found myself in the wrong part of the lake, and apparently sucked up some stones, etc, which caused my AR190 to start cavitating at higher RPM's. I took it to the dealer on the lake, and he quoted me a price for an impeller and sleeve replacement which was WELL north of $1,000. I'm thinking I might be getting ripped. Does anyone know the flat rate hours for this?

 

[SamCF]

Housing/sleeve is $322
Impeller is $231

It is 2-3 hours of work if you take your time.

 

[Joe Brock]

OK. So maybe they're not so far off base. I probably should have tackled this on my own. Thanks.

 

[SamCF]

Definitely try this yourself. I've had to pull mine twice this summer to clean sticks out of it. Eventually you will have an issue and will need to know how to pull the pump.

 

[swatski]

Definitely appropriate for a DIY task. The limiting step is pulling the impeller off of the shaft as it can be a chore.

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[Joe Brock]

$900 for impeller housings (2) and an impeller. $750 labor. A quick google search says $400 in parts and a couple hours of time. I consider it "life tuition" lol. Shame on them tho. I bought the boat there, my toys there, and all my gas. No more.

 

[njmr2fan]

Doing a few projects like this will really give you a ton of confidence working on your boat. If something does go wrong on the water, you feel more at peace because you've poked around and seen how things work.

 

[swatski]

$900 for impeller housings (2) and an impeller. $750 labor. A quick google search says $400 in parts and a couple hours of time. I consider it "life tuition" lol. Shame on them tho. I bought the boat there, my toys there, and all my gas. No more.

The OEM parts would be $600-700. Labor... hard to tell exactly. If the impeller is stuck, it could be a nightmare. That said, 750 seems a little excessive.

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[boudin]

Pull the pump, take some pics and post here for a diagnosis. You might very well need an impeller, but the stainless wear rings are pretty darn tough. It's an aluminum housing with a stainless sleeve--takes a lot to damage them.

It's also possible you chipped the impeller vanes. But unless it's real bad, I would not worry about it and just go with an impeller. Need pics.

-Greg

 

[Rickey498]

I have some experience with this, I would for get the sleeve, and pick up an impeller and a drive shaft just in case. Don’t forget to pick a shaft holder and a wrench that will fit it.
https://www.amazon.com/Solas-Impeller-Shaft-Holder-WR014H/dp/B0068BZPB4
If you know someone with a press I would just press the drive shaft out and press the new one in. Than put the new impeller on. Easies way out of it. If you’re just going to try to pull the impeller make sure you have a heavy duty vice, and it’s anchored very well, and a good breaker bar. Remember the impeller is reverse thread. There are plenty of videos online. I broke my vice. Anchored my buddies vice to concrete. Bent my breaker bar. Rounded the nut on the impeller, and ended up splitting the impeller with a grinder to get it off. The good news was I was able to salvage the shaft. But if I had to do it again I would just order the shaft and the impeller, and save some time. I would definitely recommend though that you do it yourself and save some cash.

 

[boudin]

I would not replace anything that is not broken. Use a propane torch to heat up the impeller threads, and it will come off much easier.

-Greg

 

[Rickey498]

I would not replace anything that is not broken. Use a propane torch to heat up the impeller threads, and it will come off much easier.

-Greg

I tried a torch. Even went as far as putting it in the deep freeze for 20 minutes than hitting it with the torch. That was when I rounded the nut that is on the impeller. All I am saying is he might want to have a drive shaft on hand just in case. What should have taken me 40 minutes turned into a three week deal, and I spent 4 hours trying to get the shaft off and multiple phone calls to swatski. If I would have had that drive shaft I could have had the boat on the water the next morning. Instead I had to spend a hour splitting the impeller with a grinder, and than take the shaft to a machine shop to be cleaned up and rethreaded. If he has three or more weeks to spare than by all means just order the impeller. I recommend ordering from boats.net they are the best I have seen on prices, and ship pretty quick.

 

[swatski]

I tried a torch. Even went as far as putting it in the deep freeze for 20 minutes than hitting it with the torch. That was when I rounded the nut that is on the impeller. All I am saying is he might want to have a drive shaft on hand just in case. What should have taken me 40 minutes turned into a three week deal, and I spent 4 hours trying to get the shaft off and multiple phone calls to swatski. If I would have had that drive shaft I could have had the boat on the water the next morning. Instead I had to spend a hour splitting the impeller with a grinder, and than take the shaft to a machine shop to be cleaned up and rethreaded. If he has three or more weeks to spare than by all means just order the impeller. I recommend ordering from boats.net they are the best I have seen on prices, and ship pretty quick.

This is good warning, and you were not the first to run into an impeller that refused to cooperate! Some of the impeller tails here read like a novel (@dan144k ?)!

The only thing is - OEM impeller shafts are very expensive, so trying to pull an impeller first may be prudent, financially.

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[SamCF]

These are possible scenarios, but don't let the horror stories discourage you. You probably only need a new impeller, and it probably wont take more than 3 hours to complete the job.

Post some pictures of the impeller and ring, and you will get some better advice.

 

[Rickey498]

A new shaft is 250 bucks, and a new impeller is 226. The boating season is short. If I had to do it again, and I most definitely would do the work myself, I would just order the shaft for piece of mind. I missed out on a weekend of boating over this, and damn near missed out on Memorial Day weekend over it.

 

[dan144k]

@Joe Brock
Where are you located? Maybe someone who has done the job before can assist you.
Also, you can easily pull the shaft and impeller housing, and take those parts into a dealer or jetski shop. This will reduce your labor rate by half.

I have had 2 impeller disasters.
1st. one stock impeller fused to the main shaft and chewed the stainless threads up on my.
2nd I had a solas impeller explode, broke the solas tool teeth, cut apart with grinder in a parking lot, we were back on the water in 4 hours, had enough spare parts with me.
Also, I wrote up both on here to share my experience and help others. I have several extra impellers for my 2010 AR240 I travel out of town with on trips.

 

[Matts18]

The only thing is - OEM impeller shafts are very expensive, so trying to pull an impeller first may be prudent, financially.
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I certainly don’t disagree with this, but I always find it humerous to see what we consider “very” expensive around here. Coming from I/O boats and truly ridiculous repair prices it’s a breath of fresh air what parts and running costs are. I think I would rather deal with a stubborn impeller than try to seat exhaust bellows on a Merc Alpha I Drive. Even if you buy the new shaft it will still be cheaper than paying labor and you can be back boating in a jiffy.