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Hints/suggestions/warnings before I swap the wear ring 96 XP?

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scooper77515

scooper77515

freebie fixer
Premium Member
I am going to play with the ski one more time over the weekend, then bring it up to "dry dock" (my house inland) and get in and replace the nearly-nonexistent-wear ring.

Anybody have any hints, suggestions, warnings, etc. for someone who is about to embark on this the first time?

Any special tools, products, or materials I may need ahead of time? I have an extensive tool collection, but these are mostly automotive, full set of metric and standard tools, impact, dial indicators, etc. Used to work in a machine shop...

I want to tear it down, be sure there is nothing else needing replaced, then order parts, reassemble, and hope to not have it out of the water for more than 2 weeks. So I want to learn what CAN go wrong and be prepared for it to minimize down time.
 
wow! that is going to be quite the endeaver! What can go wrong you ask? Well, the short answer is EVERYTHING!!!!

I can offer no value as to help, but i will wish you luck!
 
Wear ring....

Scooper, look on the bottoom left of the page and you'll see page links to other post about this. We've posted the complete tear down and replacement of this wearing ring........good luck
 
the exploded view and brief reading of the manual make it sound pretty straightforward...just wanted to see if there were any typical surprises...
 
Easy work...

Scooper, it's pretty easy straight forward work. Pretty simple to do. The only thing I would do is to decide if at this point, do you also want to replace the bearings. You have to roller, needle pin bearings that take up radial movement and one thrust needle pin bearing that takes up axial movement.
The only special tool you'll need is the impellor removal tool. You can get one for about $12-$20 bucks. You might pick it up at your local shop or if you decide to do bearings too, order it with a bearing kit.
Karls right, get started on it and if you have some problems, give someone a shout!......oh, and if you read about the bearing removal, you don't necessary have to have all those special tools. You can make do with a couple "McGyver" tools..........
 
Honestly, I am cheap, and since this is a free and very used ski, I doubt it will last more than another year or 2, especially as hard as I am using it. And considering that all use is salt water, and each trip leads to a new issue to resolve.

So, with that said, what do you guys suggest?

More important, how much will a bearing swap cost and what are symptoms of worn bearings?

On this ski, I am trying to keep it simple and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so how much extra will it cost and how much more work?
 
To keep it simple, if the bearings have lots of play or shows signs of lots of wear replace them. I don't look at the cost when I repair anything. If I rip something apart and it's worth my time to do a repair, I just replace it and move on. That is just me, my time is worth more than just a couple bucks savings when I repair anything. I would rather spend an extra $40.00, or $50.00 now than spend the same time again a couple weeks later to redo it again, and spend it anyway. We all have budgets, I prefer to do it right the first time, but that's just me not you.
Karl
 
Ahhh, it's a piece of cake!

Ahhhh, cheap, you’re speaking my language. Don’t listen to Karl; he’s a millionaire in disguise. He replaces his boat if it gets dirty. That’s why you see that nice new boat in his avatar!..... I think he’s got like, 14 boats!
In a way, Karl is right. If you’re going to remove these parts to replace the wearing ring, then replacing the bearings would also be recommended. But if this is the first time your pulling your pump, you might stay away from the bearings unless you just have to because there are a few critical measurements that must be achieved for proper fit.
When you have the housing off, this would be the time to check your bearings. Check radial play (side to side). It shouldn’t be anymore than .002” and then end play, (move the shaft in and out) it shouldn’t be anymore than .005-.021. In layman’s term that means, it should barely move either way, no more than a finger nails thickness.
Now you’ll need to have the impeller removal tool ready. You’ll also need to find a vice to lock the other end of the shaft down. With the impeller facing up, take a torch (a cheap butane from WalMart will do) and after removing the rubber boot on the end of the impeller, quickly heat the center of the impeller to 300*F (hold over the center of hole for about 10-15 seconds) to break the Loctite seal, then use the impeller removal tool to remove the impeller. That’s it! You’ll have the housing sitting there in front of you with the wearing ring, waiting for you to tear it out. I used the broken piece of a hacksaw blade. But it was tough. You can use a jig saw, but you have to be very careful not to cut into the housing. Cut it in two places then you’ll be able to gently pry it out with a screw driver…..key word, “gently”…..
For the first time, I know this sounds intimidating, but it’s really not that hard once you get into it. Plus, you’ll have the forum to back you up. My first time, I didn’t have the forum. I wasn’t a member yet. But I did get it done and she’s still running smoothly today. (shhhhh, Karl. You don’t have to tell everyone I have the heads off and it couldn’t run if I pushed it. That’s beside the point).
 
I have read that you just put the houseing in to the frezzer for a hour or two and it pops right out. Is there any truth to this ??
 
I have never heard putting it in the freezer will do that to the wear ring. If you put the whole unit in, it will expand at a different rate but I still think the ring still needs to be cut out as it is a tight fit going in. It might be easier to get out ...but you still might have to cut it.I do the fridge trick with bearings and cases as the items are separate and can expand at different rates.
Karl
 
Thanks!!!

Just the kind of info I needed.

Good to hear that I will be able to see some sort of wear in the bearings without having to remove them. I may have to swap them, because the impeller shaft sounds like it is sloppy, but it has since I have owned it and it never got worse. I have never owned one of these things and just assumed that that was how they sounded.

I have access to liquid nitrogen...all kinds of heat, etc. So if I need to shrink something or heat it up, I can do it. But I am betting that the wear ring is gone. I look up into the jet and I see metal, not anything plastic or teflon, or whatever it is supposed to be made of. I think the max clearance between ring and impeller is .030, well mine looks more like 1/8"...The previous owner did NO maintenance on this thing. Luckily they also only used it 1-2 times per year, so the motor is pretty fresh with low hours for this old of a boat.

The damage done was from all use being in salt water off the beach, so I had to fix holes in the exhaust tube, etc where water had eaten through the freeze plugs. The wear ring is gone from sucking up sand and shells, etc.

Now that I think about it, I don't have to be cheap on this. My dad pays for all the parts if I do all the labor (that is how we share the ownership of this ski). So I may as well order all of them and let him fork out the change.
 
It's not that hard to do, we cut ours out with a Dremel tool!!! Actually seen it done on the back of a houseboat swim platform!!!
 
Well, might be a moot subject...

Can't get the motor to turn.

Just went down to start it up and it is frozen. took the plugs out, and tried to turn the shaft by hand and it is stuck solid.

It has only been a few weeks since we went out and I rinsed it with fresh water and ran it dry, but it seems stuck now.

Still taking it home this weekend and will start to pull the back end off and see if I can figure out if it is the jet stuck or the engine.
 
Mystery oil...

If you try all you can, before you let it get along to late, try a little Marvel Mystery oil in the cylinders......the stuff works miracles....
 
Yea an air test might do it ...I hope it isn't that serious...you just can't get a break it seems!
 
I didn't have time to mess with it today so I put trans fluid in the each spark plug hole and plugged them back up. I will get in to it when I get time.

There is no way it has salt water in it. Never been dumped, etc.

Possibly fresh water from flushing it, but I always turn the water off and let it run 15-20 seconds longer to shoot as much water out as possible before killing it. Usually also run it until the gas runs out, but i noticed the gas was still on this time, so I guess I didn't do that last time.

It ran fine at Christmas, last time I had it out. So hopefully, it isn't too messed up...:confused:

I will let you guys know as i get in to it...
 
Transmission Fluid in spark plug holes???...why not use 2 stroke oil ? That oil is better as it is what you always use. The trans fluid isn't ment for the engine. It might be a lube but the engine doesen't burn that kind of oil...You could even use wd-40 as it displaces water
 
Trans fluid

Yeah, I know. But it was the only thing I could find that was thin and lubricating at my parents' house where we are.

The only other lubricant I could find was 90w gear oil.

It was just a "grab what I can find" situation. I figured the sooner I could get something in there, the easier it may be later to fix it, and the sooner whatever is seizing the motor may be stopped.

I guess if I was thinking better at the time and wasn't so upset, I could would have pulled some of the Bombardier lube out of the ski and put it down there. It is so clear now...hindsight IS 20/20...:(

I don't plan on running it with it in there. Whatever I do to break it free will give me an opportunity to clean it out.
 
In a panic situation we do things that seem ok till we think about it later...My wife says I have Hind sight...because I keep looking at her's... :ack:
 
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