Anybody have the wear ring come apart?

[Rossterman]

96 gtx. Ran great last week but bogging due to old grey fuel ines and carbs. Ran it for a short run and put it on the trailer to keep from lean siezing it. It ran briefly ran 52mph on the lie-o-meter. After rebuilding the carbs and replacing the fuel lines, and adding an anti-rattle jet cone/oil I took it out for a second run. Engine ran fine and bog was gone but ski cavitated terribly. Would barely get on plane with me only. Never cavitated on the initial run. Top speed was down to 45 on the gauge too. Ran it through a tank of gas and put it back on the trailer. Pulled the grate today and 1/2 the wear ring is missing! Didn’t run over anything so scratching my head as to what happened. Anyone have any ideas? No side to side play in the bearing I can tell. The old cone was free of water in the oil when I switched it out (although it was black and smelly).

 

[DanSquires]

They just get old and dry rot. Then the impeller snags the liner and rips it to hell.
Replace with a full delrin ring and never look back.

 

[andy.262]

This happened to my 99 GTX except the whole inside black part of the ring was gone. When I put a new ring in the difference in acceleration was like night and day, it was incredible.

When I tried to remove the broken one with the freezer trick it didn't work, I had nowhere to grab it by and I didn't have the impeller to tool to remove the impeller so I could cut it. Ended up putting some small screws into the top and pulled on the screws to get the ring out. Sort of a pain but it worked.

 

[JJinSC]

I have seen an aftermarket wear ring come apart like it was dry rotted before. I only use OEM now.

 

[Rossterman]

The ring literally disintegrated as the rubber chunked off from the fiberglass base. Guess old age caused it as it ran fine and looked good on the previous trip. Went with a 1 piece delrin ring this time as it gets good reviews and looks a little more durable