Carbon Seal Removal GTX 4Tec Finally
So after a few hours of getting upset and almost giving up and buying the tool for the carbon seal I got it off. I kept trying like everyone said. First I took everything out hoses and everything that would get in my way. Was just pretty much annoying. Let me just say I did this same procedure on both my skis. 2003 GTX SuperCharged which is wrecked, Took the seal off of that ski and installed in my 2002 Limited GTX so I could tell if thats the reason I was continuing to cavitate after a new wear ring. The SC ski is wrecked. Needs glass work on bottom. Anyways long story short I even took out the supercharger in order to have better access. But after prying and prying with different things ranging from a long hammer, long rod, and some bolt cutters, the handle part. I almost gave up. I got on the back of the ski and would grab the bellows and stainless steel ring and try and try and it would only move about 1-2 mm. I couldnt even see the circlip. At the last minute I was about to put up and my neighbor showed up so I asked him for help.
He came over with his 3ft prybar and after about 5 minutes of tinkering with it we popped it back. Now I used a few different methods and am writing this up to see if anyone else can use it. Its not way detailed so If you have any questions please feel free to ask me. Like I said Pretty much all that is out there is 2 stroke stuff on removing the carbon ring or drive shaft in general which I did
Before I get started the reason I think the stainless steel ring thing is so hard to move is that it pretty much gets completely dried out and a little bit of rust forms behind it making it almost impossible to move. I figured this out after I took everything off I was trying to see how hard it was going to be to slide everything back thru and let me tell you I almost got the ring stuck just out in the open. So what I did was to get some marine grease and grease the inside of the stainless steal ring and ran a thin film over the end of the drive shaft that was going to be touching or sliding passed this ring and bearing thing that sits in front of the stainless ring. After I did that everything slid around with no difficulty at all.
So lets begin
1) I took of the cone/reverse linkage off the back including the pump. ( Not going to post pics, if you cant do this part then dont even try the rest. Its all self explanatory .
2) Once the 4 pump nuts are off make sure to get all the washers out including the large almos 1 inch ones. big and silver cant miss them. Sometimes they stick a little. Anyways jiggle the pump until it comes loose. Some are harder then others, sometimes it pops right off. Dont forget the big black rubber seal that sits on the lip of the back part of the pump. Sometimes this sticks to the back of the ski and you dont want to tear it when you replace everything if you dont buy a new one. Mine where in good shape so we will see tomorrow if I needed another. Anyways put this to the side.
3)Now get you a small 15mm socket and put in the in hole where the drive shaft enters the impeller. The socket should be the short ones about 3/4in-1 in ones. You will undestand what we are doing later. I put the thicker part of th socket pointing outwards as to take more of the pressure on the drive shaft.Now put just your pump back on, dont use rubber black large seal, so as to not damage it it since this is just to push the driveshaft forward and not let it push back when you try to push stainless ring back. When you put the pump back on be careful and slowly do this, I used a screw driver to hold up my drive shaft in the exact spot it will hit the shaft hole, since I had no one to help me and the shaft falls about 3/4in when pump is off. Anyways when you align everything you will only have a little bit for your nuts to grab onto the studs on the back of the ski. I just used 2 diagnal nuts and big washers, didnt use small ones. Then I made sure to start the nuts. Once I put my socket to them and started tightening it pushed the pump back maybe 1/2-3/4in. Dont over tighten either just enough to where everything is snug. You can tell it pushes your stainless ring about 1/4in in front of your bellows/carbon ring.
4) Now that you have the Stainless Ring pushed forward some some the socket holding your drive shaft so it doesnt move when you try and pry the stainless ring back time to get you a 2x4 and a pry bar. My pictures are not great at all but If i would have had this two days ago I wouldnt have spent 4 hrs just on this part trying and trying to figure it out. Anyways set your 2x4 as low as possible and be careful its sitting on the engine block and not on any plastic or sensors. I almost did that. Anyways get your pry bar and put it on the top part of the stainless ring and pry it back. At first you will probably be timid scared to break anything but dont worry just make sure your 2x4 is snug and your putting downward pressure on your pry bar as well so it doesnt slip and you bang yourself up or your ski. Anyways now pry it back your will feel it slip back and you will be overjoyed as I was, as I was on the verge of giving up and buying a tool. Anyways on mine when I pried it back it stayed in position and I could see the circlip that needs to be removed, which was the easiest part. Simply get you a flathead screw driver and pop it out.
5) Now that you have the circlip off look at how everything goes in the stainless ring the bearing roller in front of the that. Go to the back of the ski and pull your drive shaft out. Now its not just going to slide ride out. Your going to have to pull it back pretty hard. Mine was actually real hard. I thought man is something else connected. But i continued. I slowly started spinning it too and everything came out. Dont worry your not going to break anything. The circlip is the only thing holding everything in place.
6) When I finally got the drive shaft out I took some 600grit sand paper and sanded off the rust around where the stainless ring was. Then I cleaned it with a rag and finally I got some marine grease and lightly rubbed some on that part of the shaft. I also rubbed some marine grease on the inside of the stainless ring and the bearing gear that sits in fron of the stainless ring. I slid the drive shaft back on and slowly added the stainless ring, then the bearing in front of that and attached everything back dont forget your c-clip also dab some grease on end of driveshaft and it will slide into impeller way more smoothly.
Sanding the drive shaft and applying the grease helped out tremenddously. After I attached everything I can actually get behind the seadoo and pull the stainless ring back with no difficulty. Anyways good. Luck. sorry I didnt take more pics but what I did take would have helped me out a ton as I hadnt found any. Anyways good luck. I know you should buy all new rings, circlip, and carbon ring but I am doing a trial on my seadoo to rule out my impeller or carbon ring without going out and spending the money first. I had a spare ski to use so I did. Dr. Honda had said the type of cavitation I was having was prob do to the carbon seal being worn out and sucking air into the pump since I had already changed out my wear ring. anyways cross your fingers I go out tomorrow to see.
So after a few hours of getting upset and almost giving up and buying the tool for the carbon seal I got it off. I kept trying like everyone said. First I took everything out hoses and everything that would get in my way. Was just pretty much annoying. Let me just say I did this same procedure on both my skis. 2003 GTX SuperCharged which is wrecked, Took the seal off of that ski and installed in my 2002 Limited GTX so I could tell if thats the reason I was continuing to cavitate after a new wear ring. The SC ski is wrecked. Needs glass work on bottom. Anyways long story short I even took out the supercharger in order to have better access. But after prying and prying with different things ranging from a long hammer, long rod, and some bolt cutters, the handle part. I almost gave up. I got on the back of the ski and would grab the bellows and stainless steel ring and try and try and it would only move about 1-2 mm. I couldnt even see the circlip. At the last minute I was about to put up and my neighbor showed up so I asked him for help.
He came over with his 3ft prybar and after about 5 minutes of tinkering with it we popped it back. Now I used a few different methods and am writing this up to see if anyone else can use it. Its not way detailed so If you have any questions please feel free to ask me. Like I said Pretty much all that is out there is 2 stroke stuff on removing the carbon ring or drive shaft in general which I did
Before I get started the reason I think the stainless steel ring thing is so hard to move is that it pretty much gets completely dried out and a little bit of rust forms behind it making it almost impossible to move. I figured this out after I took everything off I was trying to see how hard it was going to be to slide everything back thru and let me tell you I almost got the ring stuck just out in the open. So what I did was to get some marine grease and grease the inside of the stainless steal ring and ran a thin film over the end of the drive shaft that was going to be touching or sliding passed this ring and bearing thing that sits in front of the stainless ring. After I did that everything slid around with no difficulty at all.
So lets begin
1) I took of the cone/reverse linkage off the back including the pump. ( Not going to post pics, if you cant do this part then dont even try the rest. Its all self explanatory .
2) Once the 4 pump nuts are off make sure to get all the washers out including the large almos 1 inch ones. big and silver cant miss them. Sometimes they stick a little. Anyways jiggle the pump until it comes loose. Some are harder then others, sometimes it pops right off. Dont forget the big black rubber seal that sits on the lip of the back part of the pump. Sometimes this sticks to the back of the ski and you dont want to tear it when you replace everything if you dont buy a new one. Mine where in good shape so we will see tomorrow if I needed another. Anyways put this to the side.
3)Now get you a small 15mm socket and put in the in hole where the drive shaft enters the impeller. The socket should be the short ones about 3/4in-1 in ones. You will undestand what we are doing later. I put the thicker part of th socket pointing outwards as to take more of the pressure on the drive shaft.Now put just your pump back on, dont use rubber black large seal, so as to not damage it it since this is just to push the driveshaft forward and not let it push back when you try to push stainless ring back. When you put the pump back on be careful and slowly do this, I used a screw driver to hold up my drive shaft in the exact spot it will hit the shaft hole, since I had no one to help me and the shaft falls about 3/4in when pump is off. Anyways when you align everything you will only have a little bit for your nuts to grab onto the studs on the back of the ski. I just used 2 diagnal nuts and big washers, didnt use small ones. Then I made sure to start the nuts. Once I put my socket to them and started tightening it pushed the pump back maybe 1/2-3/4in. Dont over tighten either just enough to where everything is snug. You can tell it pushes your stainless ring about 1/4in in front of your bellows/carbon ring.
4) Now that you have the Stainless Ring pushed forward some some the socket holding your drive shaft so it doesnt move when you try and pry the stainless ring back time to get you a 2x4 and a pry bar. My pictures are not great at all but If i would have had this two days ago I wouldnt have spent 4 hrs just on this part trying and trying to figure it out. Anyways set your 2x4 as low as possible and be careful its sitting on the engine block and not on any plastic or sensors. I almost did that. Anyways get your pry bar and put it on the top part of the stainless ring and pry it back. At first you will probably be timid scared to break anything but dont worry just make sure your 2x4 is snug and your putting downward pressure on your pry bar as well so it doesnt slip and you bang yourself up or your ski. Anyways now pry it back your will feel it slip back and you will be overjoyed as I was, as I was on the verge of giving up and buying a tool. Anyways on mine when I pried it back it stayed in position and I could see the circlip that needs to be removed, which was the easiest part. Simply get you a flathead screw driver and pop it out.
5) Now that you have the circlip off look at how everything goes in the stainless ring the bearing roller in front of the that. Go to the back of the ski and pull your drive shaft out. Now its not just going to slide ride out. Your going to have to pull it back pretty hard. Mine was actually real hard. I thought man is something else connected. But i continued. I slowly started spinning it too and everything came out. Dont worry your not going to break anything. The circlip is the only thing holding everything in place.
6) When I finally got the drive shaft out I took some 600grit sand paper and sanded off the rust around where the stainless ring was. Then I cleaned it with a rag and finally I got some marine grease and lightly rubbed some on that part of the shaft. I also rubbed some marine grease on the inside of the stainless ring and the bearing gear that sits in fron of the stainless ring. I slid the drive shaft back on and slowly added the stainless ring, then the bearing in front of that and attached everything back dont forget your c-clip also dab some grease on end of driveshaft and it will slide into impeller way more smoothly.
Sanding the drive shaft and applying the grease helped out tremenddously. After I attached everything I can actually get behind the seadoo and pull the stainless ring back with no difficulty. Anyways good. Luck. sorry I didnt take more pics but what I did take would have helped me out a ton as I hadnt found any. Anyways good luck. I know you should buy all new rings, circlip, and carbon ring but I am doing a trial on my seadoo to rule out my impeller or carbon ring without going out and spending the money first. I had a spare ski to use so I did. Dr. Honda had said the type of cavitation I was having was prob do to the carbon seal being worn out and sucking air into the pump since I had already changed out my wear ring. anyways cross your fingers I go out tomorrow to see.
Last edited by a moderator:
