- Messages
- 13,330
- Reaction score
- 13,426
- Points
- 857
- Location
- Royal, AR
- Boat Make
- Yamaha
- Year
- 2007
- Boat Model
- SX
- Boat Length
- 23
At the end of May I checked the cone on my port side pump and found a teaspoon of water inside with the grease. This brought on the debate of should I change the bearing in advance of the Bimini crossing or leave them as is and risk a failure on the trip. I probably would have been fine but I decided to cautiously move through the process of replacing the bearings. I very much appreciate the advice of @Murf'n'surf, @Big Shasta, @swatski, @KXCam22 and everyone else who has posted about these bearings.
This is what my water compromised grease looked like. (All pictures in this post are thumbnails, click them to enlarge)
For years I had mistakenly believed that the rear end of the shaft was supported by the single bearing seen in the first photo above. Through this process I learned that there is a second bearing at the front of the duct housing that we have no way of seeing or packing and is likely to be in worse condition. I believe that the water in my port cone had seeped in through the aged seals at the front of the duct housing and made its way back to the cone. All of my bearings looked ok but the front bearing on the port side had the most discoloration followed by the rear bearing on the port side. The starboard side had not leaked and it's bearings looked new.
In the picture below the top bearings are from the starboard side which had minimal or no water intrusion. The middle bearings are from port where I found water. The bottom bearings are from the new WSM kit.
I decided to switch to using 70 cc of Amsoil marine gear oil in each housing instead of grease. This fills the housing and cone combination to 54% with oil. I decided on this oil due to it's ability to perform the same with 10% water contamination as when new. I decided upon oil over grease so that I can change it. With grease I could not do anything for the front bearing in the duct housing. @KXCam22 has a long term review of switching to an oil bath in this thread https://jetboaters.net/threads/pump-cone-oil-bath-mod-long-term-results.9521/.
I have had my boat since approximately 32 hours on the engines. Until this change there was always a noticeable noise from the pumps when the engines were running. After this change I found that the jets were silent. Initially I was concerned that I might have reinstalled them incorrectly. I believe that the factory bearings had play in them that was sufficient to allow the impeller to lightly rub the housing at some points of it's rotation. I also believe that play in the bearings contributed to the large amount of stuff that has gotten stuck in my pumps as well as the play may have been caused by stuff getting stuck in the pumps.
I ordered two $34 WSM 003-627 pump repair kits from @PartsPak.com. I also needed a $16 impeller shaft holder tool. Then I bought a series of PVC couplers and a pipe from Lowes to use as assembly tools. I took the bearings into the store and picked out couplers or pipe to fit the inner and outer race of each bearing and the seals. You need a length of pipe for the inner race of the front bearing as you will be pushing it some distance onto the shaft. I bought a 4' piece and cut a short piece to use. I was glad to have the extra because I pushed the bearing too far onto the shaft and had to back it off.
I drilled an arbor into my work bench which eased many of the processes. When I finished I reinstalled the top section that I had hole sawed out.
Initially I thought that I could replacing the bearings with the impellers on the shaft. I soon learned that the shafts press out of the housings from front to back so the impellers have to come off. These were the tool options that I had for removing the impellers along with a 1/2" cordless impact. The 1 & 1/16th wrench worked well. I preferred the Craftsman Pass Through Socket but the ratchet failed while removing the second impeller. I will take it back and exchange it.
I filled the impeller collars with PB Blaster and left them soaking overnight.
This was my preferred method of impeller removal. I was able to remove one this way. I ended up seeking a vice and and a second wrench added to the 1 1/16th as a cheater to free the second impeller. It is possible that the failure of the craftsman ratchet is the reason that the impact did not free the second impeller.
I borrowed a press at a nearby transmission shop to press the shafts with bearings attached front to back out of the housing then press the the shaft back to front out of the bearings. Then I took the shafts home, cleaned them and placed them in a freezer overnight.
Then I began following the reassembly process as documented in the attached Pump Assembly.pdf file which I believe to have been created by Fercho on GreenHulk http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10901 . Thank you Fercho!
I used grease when I installed the bearing and seals but I did not pack the bearings.
I experimented with this press free method of installing the bearings http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41983 . I was able to to install the bearings on the shaft without a press. I put the shaft and bearing assembly back into the freezer for less than four hours and placed the housing outside in the sun. I might have been able to get them together if I had left them in the freezer longer used a bigger hammer or hit more rapidly but I decided to go borrow the press again about a 1/4 short of completing the assembly without it.
These are shafts with the bearings and spacers reinstalled. You can see that there are bearings on the front and back of the spacer.
You can see the new rear bearing installed in this photo
And the washer on top of the seals in this one
I measured and found that the duct housing held 70cc of oil while the cone held 60cc. I decided that a little more than 50% oil fill was a good place to start. With the shaft through my workbench and the housing vertical it was easy to fill the housing then install the cone to seal the oil inside. I can easily repeat this to inspect or change the oil.
From here I reinstalled the impellers and and reinstalled the pumps using the correct lubricant or sealant at each step. I also lubricated all of the accessible moving parts in the steering and reverse bucket mechanisms.
After reassembly we made a couple of days of long runs on the lake to test her out before going to Bimini. So far everything is working great. I will pull the pumps and check the oil for contamination this fall.
This is what my water compromised grease looked like. (All pictures in this post are thumbnails, click them to enlarge)
For years I had mistakenly believed that the rear end of the shaft was supported by the single bearing seen in the first photo above. Through this process I learned that there is a second bearing at the front of the duct housing that we have no way of seeing or packing and is likely to be in worse condition. I believe that the water in my port cone had seeped in through the aged seals at the front of the duct housing and made its way back to the cone. All of my bearings looked ok but the front bearing on the port side had the most discoloration followed by the rear bearing on the port side. The starboard side had not leaked and it's bearings looked new.
In the picture below the top bearings are from the starboard side which had minimal or no water intrusion. The middle bearings are from port where I found water. The bottom bearings are from the new WSM kit.
I decided to switch to using 70 cc of Amsoil marine gear oil in each housing instead of grease. This fills the housing and cone combination to 54% with oil. I decided on this oil due to it's ability to perform the same with 10% water contamination as when new. I decided upon oil over grease so that I can change it. With grease I could not do anything for the front bearing in the duct housing. @KXCam22 has a long term review of switching to an oil bath in this thread https://jetboaters.net/threads/pump-cone-oil-bath-mod-long-term-results.9521/.
I have had my boat since approximately 32 hours on the engines. Until this change there was always a noticeable noise from the pumps when the engines were running. After this change I found that the jets were silent. Initially I was concerned that I might have reinstalled them incorrectly. I believe that the factory bearings had play in them that was sufficient to allow the impeller to lightly rub the housing at some points of it's rotation. I also believe that play in the bearings contributed to the large amount of stuff that has gotten stuck in my pumps as well as the play may have been caused by stuff getting stuck in the pumps.
I ordered two $34 WSM 003-627 pump repair kits from @PartsPak.com. I also needed a $16 impeller shaft holder tool. Then I bought a series of PVC couplers and a pipe from Lowes to use as assembly tools. I took the bearings into the store and picked out couplers or pipe to fit the inner and outer race of each bearing and the seals. You need a length of pipe for the inner race of the front bearing as you will be pushing it some distance onto the shaft. I bought a 4' piece and cut a short piece to use. I was glad to have the extra because I pushed the bearing too far onto the shaft and had to back it off.
I drilled an arbor into my work bench which eased many of the processes. When I finished I reinstalled the top section that I had hole sawed out.
Initially I thought that I could replacing the bearings with the impellers on the shaft. I soon learned that the shafts press out of the housings from front to back so the impellers have to come off. These were the tool options that I had for removing the impellers along with a 1/2" cordless impact. The 1 & 1/16th wrench worked well. I preferred the Craftsman Pass Through Socket but the ratchet failed while removing the second impeller. I will take it back and exchange it.
I filled the impeller collars with PB Blaster and left them soaking overnight.
This was my preferred method of impeller removal. I was able to remove one this way. I ended up seeking a vice and and a second wrench added to the 1 1/16th as a cheater to free the second impeller. It is possible that the failure of the craftsman ratchet is the reason that the impact did not free the second impeller.
I borrowed a press at a nearby transmission shop to press the shafts with bearings attached front to back out of the housing then press the the shaft back to front out of the bearings. Then I took the shafts home, cleaned them and placed them in a freezer overnight.
Then I began following the reassembly process as documented in the attached Pump Assembly.pdf file which I believe to have been created by Fercho on GreenHulk http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=10901 . Thank you Fercho!
I used grease when I installed the bearing and seals but I did not pack the bearings.
I experimented with this press free method of installing the bearings http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/showthread.php?t=41983 . I was able to to install the bearings on the shaft without a press. I put the shaft and bearing assembly back into the freezer for less than four hours and placed the housing outside in the sun. I might have been able to get them together if I had left them in the freezer longer used a bigger hammer or hit more rapidly but I decided to go borrow the press again about a 1/4 short of completing the assembly without it.
These are shafts with the bearings and spacers reinstalled. You can see that there are bearings on the front and back of the spacer.
You can see the new rear bearing installed in this photo
And the washer on top of the seals in this one
I measured and found that the duct housing held 70cc of oil while the cone held 60cc. I decided that a little more than 50% oil fill was a good place to start. With the shaft through my workbench and the housing vertical it was easy to fill the housing then install the cone to seal the oil inside. I can easily repeat this to inspect or change the oil.
From here I reinstalled the impellers and and reinstalled the pumps using the correct lubricant or sealant at each step. I also lubricated all of the accessible moving parts in the steering and reverse bucket mechanisms.
After reassembly we made a couple of days of long runs on the lake to test her out before going to Bimini. So far everything is working great. I will pull the pumps and check the oil for contamination this fall.
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