96 sportster new jet drive won’t crank

[B'sSportster]

I replaced the jet drive and impeller on my 96 sportster. Now the boat won’t crank. I pulled the plugs and tried to crank it up so it could create some space in the wear ring. It won’t really crank very much. Could I need a stronger starter, could the drive shaft be an issue?

I pulled the jet drive off and pulled it apart again and the bearings look good. Not sure what to do next.

 

[rkkoeb]

I just replace the wear rings on my jets and what I notice is one of them the impellers would not turn and the other turn great after I put them back together. I took it back apart and reassembled it and made sure the washer was in correct and now it turns fine. Might want to just double check the bearings/washer and make sure all is correct

 

[Dr Honda]

Is it's a new pump? If not... did you misplace the spacers? After you put the impeller back into the pump... does it spin on the bench?

TO me... it sounds like you are out of alignment. (unless the impeller is just bound in the pump)

 

[B'sSportster]

So it was the impeller binding up with the wear ring. I pulled the spark plugs to remove the pressure and tried cranking the motor. It helped but still not enough movement. I used a little wd40 to grease the ring and that helped too but still not enough movement to seat the impeller. Finally I backed out the nuts on the jet pump and combined with the wd40 it finally worked. I slowly tightened the nuts back up and cranked it up to continue to help seat the impeller.

It’s now back together and we had a great day on the lake this weekend.

 

[Dr Honda]

If loosening the pump bolts let it spin... then you are out of alignment. I would get my hand on an alignment tool, and verify. If not... you may rip up the PTO or impeller.