OEM VS Aftermarket parts

[BillyTequila]

See Too folks.
I am about to repair my GTX215 after finding a bad drive shaft (Splines work almost smooth)
I've been researching and DO NOT WANT TO DO THIS JOB TWICE.
Having said that - I also don't want to purchase every stinking part under the sun.
I am most definately going to need:
Drive shaft
Various O rings
Drive Shaft Plug (Damper)
Impeller
Wear ring
Various pump O rings...

I priced all these parts OEM and am looking at $870 US.
Plus a few tools I hope to use only once. C Clip remover and floating ring tool.
(found C Clip remover aftermarket on e-bay for 85 rather than the 130 elsewhere)
That's going to add another $200 Us.

I have no intention of using high performance parts to squeeze a little more HP out of this machine at the expense of reliability.
I want a ski that runs well with very few repairs.

My question is this - Going with better (SBT / Solas) aftermarket parts I figure I can save as much as $200 or $300.
Is that "in your opinion" a safe option or am I better off sticking with the OEM parts?

 

[racerxxx]

Personally, I would go OEM all the way. Do you absolutely need the tools? Can it be done with another set of hands?

Memorize this saying:

Any job, big or small, do it twice or not at all.


I'll live and die by this. My buddies dad used to tell us this all the time. He took every shortcut he could only to circle back the following week to fix his truck again the right way. Yet he continued to do it week in week out. So, if you want to short cut and do it twice, you'll be a pro at it teh second time and probably get it done faster.

 

[Digdog]

You will for sure need the Floating ring tool (long handle) , the clip you can pop out with a small screwdriver or pick. The rubber seal on the impeller are way better from OEM than the Solas aluminum seals, you will also need a small tube of synthetic or high quality marine grease for the shaft when you put it together. You should replace the carbon ring and possibly the boot while it is apart, depending on the year of the machine the boot also. The bearings in the pump housing should be checked , zero play is the tolerance for those. The wear ring is also another consideration, but you need to check for clearance against a new impeller. The Solas impeller does not work well with unmodified engines, they take too much bite and you lose rpm's, I would stick with oem if you are not familiar with aftermarket.

 

[BillyTequila]

I appreciate both your responses. They support what I was thinking.
I ordered the tools, greases,& various loctite products which I was able to find on a handful of e-bay sites. $250.00
The ski is a 2011 with 80 fresh-water hours. I'll disassemble and make parts decisions as I go.
I cant see the Carbon ring yet, the boot looks perfect, but I understand your "While it's apart" point. It adds another $100 or so, but I'd gladly pay $100 not to do this job twice.