97 HX vibration

[kingbrad89]

Hey guys. We were out on the skis for a few hours today having some fun, my buddy was gettin a little crazy on the HX and it quit running on him. Couldnt get it fired back up on the water again and killed the battery so i pulled it back with my GSX. I used a jump pack and couldnt get it fired again so i pulled the plugs and shut the gas off and cranked a while. Plugs back in and it fired up and runs perfect. But once we got back out onto the water i noticed some vibration and what felt like slipping of the impeller. It almost feels like it slips when youre stopped and get hard on the throttle and it vibrates the whole ski. I put it back on the trailer and made sure nothing was wrapped around the shaft or the impeller and its clear. Its just weird that this happened so sudden. Im sure its nothing related to the fact the ski quit running. Now the ski literally has no hours on it. I bet its got 50-75 hrs. The thing is spotless. I dont think it would need a wear ring or anything, plus it was so sudden, not a gradual onset. Im not stupid mechanically and can make my way around a car or truck with no problem, but ive never been into fixing these skis. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[6KJR]

Could be the driveshaft, may be time to check the pump bearings. Why it quit could be a whole other situation.

 

[LouDoo]

I would take a look at the wear ring, if it has never been replaced and the ski has few hours it could just deteriorate with age. One of my ski's did the same thing, the clearance was fine but chunks of the wear ring started falling out and caused a vibration like you are talking about.

Lou

 

[Dr Honda]

He may have sucked up something, and it's stuck in the pump. That would cause cavitation, and vibration.

 

[kingbrad89]

I had it apart a few days ago to put new pump oil in and i did a good visual inspection of everything while i was in there. The wear ring looks spotless on both sides of the impeller. Its never been in salt water either. It only seems to slip and vibrate under heavy load like when youre first planing it out at full throttle. Once the ski is planed out its fine, runs very smooth and wihtout vibration. Can the driveshaft physically spin inside the impeller? Ive never had one apart to see how the impeller is attached to the shaft. It just boggles my mind that if it was a wear issue, that it would have come on so suddenly.