Does this wear ring look right?

[jcp]

I just bought my '06 wake last October and have been out twice only. I didn't really notice any cavitation issues. I summerized it this morning and decided to take a close look at the ring. I can feel a definite groove in the ring and was wondering if this is normal, or if it is supposed to be perfectly smooth all around. The blades look straight with no marks or bent fins. I'm a real noob (first PWC) and need advice.

Thanks in advance,
John

 

[kustomkarl]

Use a feeler guage and measure the clearance at the center of the blades to the wear ring. The service limit of the gap is .040". Any bigger it needs emplacement. The scratches won't effect it much unless they are deep and its real chewed up.

Karl

 

[jcp]

Thanks Karl. Question, is feeler gauge the same as a spark plug gapper?

 

[scooper77515]

Feeler gauges...

You CAN use them to check your spark plugs, as well.

 

[seadoosnipe]

Looks good....

I just bought my '06 wake last October and have been out twice only. I didn't really notice any cavitation issues. I summerized it this morning and decided to take a close look at the ring. I can feel a definite groove in the ring and was wondering if this is normal, or if it is supposed to be perfectly smooth all around. The blades look straight with no marks or bent fins. I'm a real noob (first PWC) and need advice.

Thanks in advance,
John

From your pix, it looks good. There is a spec on it that I see other members have already quoted but it's just my opinion that if you let one get outward to .040", your going to see a slight drop in performance from it. Keep the clearance shallow as you can.......:cheers:

 

[jcp]

Thanks Scooper and Snipe. I thought they were the same thing. The previous (original) owner's son had sucked up a rope. I guess that could have caused the groove? I've heard talk of stainless steel wear rings. Are these better than the plastic? Sorry for all the questions. I'm just new to this and I appreciate all the help guys.
Thanks,
John

 

[kustomkarl]

You could use a stainless steel wear ring, but it might defeat it's purpose of you live in a rocky area. The idea is, the wear ring will wear out before the expensive impeller.

Karl

 

[jcp]

Ok. Now it makes more sense to me. Thanks again.

 

[scooper77515]

For what it is worth, when I acquired my 96 XP, it ran well, just took a while to take off. Acted like it was "peeling out". When I finally got all the parts to do the wear ring swap, mine was worn out to .180"!!!

It was run strictly off the beach, so lots of beach sand had been sucked through that thing.

It was a completely new beast with a new wear ring. :reddevil:

So, you can keep running it with more of a gap than .040, but you will notice more and more slip as that gap gets larger.