Sucked up some rocks and pulled her apart. Need opinions!

[R00st]

So I sucked up some rocks for the first time (15 mph and found a hidden sand bar...). It sounded like rocks in a blender until I was able to cut power, knowing the damage was already done. I pulled both sides tonight to find two pretty unhappy impellers, which will get replaced with oem. So, the question is, do the wear ring/cylinders need to be replaced? I can see scratches when I shine a light or use flash, but can't feel the scratches with my fingernail. Those wear ring/cylinders are pretty pricey relative to the oem, so I'm hoping they are salvageable.

I had no idea how easy it was to service these parts! My thought is to just replace impellers, and then see if my top speed is changed...if it is, I'll know the wear rings need replaced, unless someone knows they for sure should be replaced now.

I know there are options to replace impellers but I read they are not worthwhile. What about the wear rings? My searches showed some optional replacements -some from amazon with replaceable sleeves, which seem like a good idea, as I'm sure this is bound to happen again on our shallow home river (rock river Illinois). Any suggestions?

What is the best (aka cheapest) OEM parts website? We are scheduled to attend the Shelbyville gathering at the end of the month so I dont want to be waiting on parts for weeks.

Thanks in adance!

Mike

 

[jdonalds]

Save a lot of $ and send those impellers to Impros. They will come back looking like new.

 

[Ronnie]

Impros is great but I doubt they would be able to get those impellers back to you by the end of this month. Consider calling small block technologies (sbt). I read that they have an oem impeller exchange program, you send in your stock Impellers along with a fee and get a set of refurbished impellers quickly. I upgraded to solas a few seasons ago and would loan you my stock set but get this earie feeling that the first boating day after I do I would experience something that would cause me to need the stock set immediately.

 

[jdonalds]

Impros is great but I doubt they would be able to get those impellers back to you by the end of this month. Consider calling small block technologies (sbt). I read that they have an oem impeller exchange program, you send in your stock Impellers along with a fee and get a set of refurbished impellers quickly. I upgraded to solas a few seasons ago and would loan you my stock set but get this earie feeling that the first boating day after I do I would experience something that would cause me to need the stock set immediately.

I sent my impellers to Impros on a Tuesday and had them back in my hand on Friday.

 

[Ronnie]

In the middle of the season? I love impros and have been a customer of theirs for years but when I purchased custom pitched impellers from them during their busy period I waited over a month. Still , it can't hurt to call them for a timing and cost estimate.

 

[OperationROL]

@R00st - I would order a new set now and have Impros resurface the ones you have. You can then either keep them as spares or sell them. That is what I did years ago when I was chasing a cavitation issue on my former SX230. Unfortunately, I never sold them and I don't think they can fit my current boat. I don't think they fit yours either or I would let you have them cheap.

Good luck. We want to see you at Shelbyville!

 

[OperationROL]

By the way, I would try the impellers first since there is obvious damage there. If you don't return to top performance, then I would look to the housings. I don't know if the ones from my former SX230 would fit your boat either, but I still have those as well. Those where the first things I replace when I was chasing my cavitation issue. They were not the problem, so I moved on to the impellers which ended up being the problem. I went with the housings that use the inserts. They were great. If you freeze them like the directions say, they are easy to insert, then they will swell for a tight fit and you will have no problems. I have heard some say that they come loose. That was not the case with mine and I can't see how that would happen if you follow what I just outlined. The owners of my former boat (members of this site) are still using them today without issues. As a matter of fact, using the plastic inserts removes that clanging that you often hear at idle.

 

[Scottintexas]

You just said you shut the engines down, are you experiencing cavitation or loss of speed? if so how much?

impeller dings are like a magic bullet, it's hard to say what is actually going to cause a problem. My impellers look hideous but they don't really cause me any issues

 

[R00st]

Thanks everyone for the input. I am going to order some OEM impellers and run them and send these off to be refinished, as I have a feeling this is likely to happen again, given the nature of this specific water way. After the incident, I did not run the boat above maybe 2000 rpm, as I was anxious to get back on the trailer. I did have cavitation on the port side engine, but that may have been with a small piece of debris that got cleared out, as the 5 minutes @ 2k rpm resulted in no cavitation.

Thanks @OperationROL for the offer of the parts!

Where does one source the impeller removal tool? Is that an OEM part, or aftermarket?

 

[buckbuck]

@R00st I believe I have one and I think @OperationROL also has one. He may be closer.

 

[OperationROL]

@R00st I believe I have one and I think @OperationROL also has one. He may be closer.

Yes, you are welcome to use mine.

 

[R00st]

I certainly appreciate the offer from both of you. I'd like to go ahead and purchase one, since I'm unfortunately feeling like this will be a semi-common occurrence until I better learn the water ways. If I can't get one quickly I'll definitely borrow the tool so I can reassemble prior to shelbyville.

Is it an oem tool or aftermarket?

Thanks

 

[OperationROL]

https://www.ebay.com/i/191797519486?chn=ps&dispItem=1&ul_ref=http%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F711-117182-37290-0%2F2%3Fmpre%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fi%252F191797519486%253Fchn%253Dps%2526dispItem%253D1%26itemid%3D191797519486%26targetid%3D353574097164%26device%3Dm%26adtype%3Dpla%26googleloc%3D9021874%26poi%3D%26campaignid%3D853313736%26adgroupid%3D41805390205%26rlsatarget%3Dpla-353574097164%26abcId%3D1128836%26merchantid%3D113667714%26gclid%3DCj0KCQjwkZfLBRCzARIsAH3wMKqusYhjJRLe__DIrdPYdLBOs2YQwXz7ppfQNk9cYntq-0dMtvi6JbgaAjRaEALw_wcB%26srcrot%3D711-117182-37290-0%26rvr_id%3D1256217445696