2004 Sportster, slow to plane

[patelmd]

Hi, I have a 2004 Sportster, weird problem, it takes forever (2-3 minutes) to get the speed from 0 to 10-15 (even with high RPM) but once it planes and touches 20 it runs fine. Any thoughts?

 

[10forty2]

Is the drive pump cavitating? Sure sounds like it's not pumping the water efficiently enough. You may need to replace the wear rings in the pump housing. THat's really the only thing it could be, unless you forgot to unhook it from the trailer... LOL!

 

[slaizer2000]

Is the drive pump cavitating? Sure sounds like it's not pumping the water efficiently enough. You may need to replace the wear rings in the pump housing. THat's really the only thing it could be, unless you forgot to unhook it from the trailer... LOL!

I did that once when I was an extreme newbie and couldn't get the boat off the trailer. Also forgot the drain plug once but luckily remembered while the boat was still on the trailer in the water.

 

[JPass]

Post a pic of your pump and impeller from the rear through the nozzle and from underneath through the intake grate.

How is the boat loaded when you're trying to do this? Is it just you or does it only do this when it's loaded down?

 

[twcanuck]

So after reading this and seeing I had the same problem I said hey cool I'll change my wear ring! Reverse gate came off and the pump housing off the boat too. No rtv on the hull. Then I go to remove the reverse gate mount from the jet pump and it's frozen with probably years of salt water use by a previous owner. I'm hitting the bolts with pb and a propane torch but little by little my impact gun is stripping the Allen heads. Any pro tips or condolences are much obliged.

 

[twcanuck]

Update on this thread I hijacked because I cant make my own threads for some reason.

Got all 4 bolts out! These are the steps I followed.
1. Heat bolts top and bottom with propane torch till red hot. After about my 3rd iteration of this I could hear an audible click or pop as the bolt broke free
2. wait a few minutes for the bolt to cool then hit all areas with pb blaster
3. once cool to the touch use a hammer and punch to "shock" each bolt head.
4. Attempt to loosen the bolt. I found an impact gun to be extremely useful. I don't think I could have done it without it.

I stripped out the inside of one hex bolt so I searched the forums and found that you can pound a larger size torx bolt into the stripped out bolt head. This worked flawlessly and I was able to remove the last bolt and disassemble my pump. Patience is key as this process took several hours and seemed like a lost cause at times. When I called a nearby they didn't want to touch this with a 10 ft pole.

 

[Moegneto]

Did replacing the wear ring take care of your slow to plane issue? Was it easy enough to do yourself? I am getting quotes of $250 for parts and labor.