Wear ring replacement, which one to buy?

[IDoSeaDoo]

Hey guys, I'm looking to replace my wear ring on my 2003 Seadoo GTX S/C 185hp. I noticed that between 75% and 100% throttle, I get a minimal change in acceleration/RPM. I'm thinking this might be partially due to a worn wear ring, as there's quite a bit of cavitation when I stomp it from idle. I was poking around on eBay and found some as cheap as $26 shipped. Some are as high as $100. I don't want a metal one as I'd rather not kill the prop, but has anyone had any bad experience with the cheapos? Any reason to NOT get the off brand plastic insert?

 

[Dennis]

I use SBT wear rings. They"re about $35.00 plus shipping. I've never had a problem. :cheers:

 

[KK40384]

I got a deal once where I bought 2 for like $38 shipped and one was good and the other I could barely get up on plane with. That said I stick with the ones I get from my seadoo dealer. They run about $65 before tax.

Also you usually won't notice that much acceleration increase between 75% to 100% when you're already cruising at 75%. Other thing to remember you have a plastic pump which was prone to cavitation issues in the supercharged models. Seadoo fixed the problem by replacing it with an aluminum unit in 2005. If a wear ring won't fix your cavitation issues then you may want to consider replacing the pump housing with an aluminum one. You can usually find them used in good condition on eBay for a few hundred bucks.

 

[ski-d00]

The real problem is your plastic pump on the 03 SC models. It will ruin a wear ring in no time, do a search and you'll see what I mean. Get an 04-07 style aluminum pump and your performance will be greatly improved.

SBT wear rings work great I think and are half the price of SeaDoo.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

So I ordered an SBT wear ring and replaced the white plastic wear ring that was in there. I was pleased to find that my pump was actually aluminum, and the wear ring that came out SLID out. It had a lot of grooves and wear, so I thought "MAN, once I replace this puppy, I should see a huge difference. I took the SBT ring out of the freezer, and it too went right in. I noticed that all the blades had excellent clearance except the top one (near where the water pipe hooks up). That clearance was at least .889mm. The gap was not pertinent to the impeller, no matter I turned it, it was always at the top. I was disappointed when I took it out to test also. I still had cavitation, and what's worse, I lost like 5mph at WOT (now at 53 with one rider)! My impeller had slight wear, nothing major. I cleaned up the leading edges with a dremel. The trailing edges looked okay from what I could see. I'd say the acceleration is slightly better, but it'll still overrev when I punch it from idle. Do I have a defective wear ring??

 

[ski-d00]

Wear rings aren't normally defective, something else is the problem. You don't want excellent clearance. You want almost no clearance or even slight interference where the blades turning will cut to a perfect fit and all blades should have the same clearance. It sounds like your impeller is bad or you don't have the correct wear ring or a bearing problem. If it had a white wear ring in it before, someone has changed it to an SBT type aftermarket and if your pump is Al then somebody has changed that as well.

If the gap was always smaller at the top, then you need to check your bearings in your pump. There should be zero play in them.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

When the blades would rotate, the ones on the bottom had, like you said, almost NO clearance, but at the top there was a gap, like the ring was oval. The bearings were super solid, no play what so ever.

 

[Coastiejoe]

Does your ski have a carbon shaft seal? If so you could be sucking air into the impeller from the hull.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

No idea. It's so burried in there, I couldn't even see. I might be sucking air, but the fact that I lost top speed after wear ring change makes me really wonder... I kind of wish I'd gone with a WSM ring instead. These SBT rings are super cheap looking, and this type of plastic seems to shrink in colder temps (my old one just about fell out on its own).

 

[Coastiejoe]

No idea. It's so burried in there, I couldn't even see. I might be sucking air, but the fact that I lost top speed after wear ring change makes me really wonder... I kind of wish I'd gone with a WSM ring instead. These SBT rings are super cheap looking, and this type of plastic seems to shrink in colder temps (my old one just about fell out on its own).

I have heard both good and bad about SBT wear rings. And in most cases the cheap eBay rings are junk. Lou mentions a brand but don't recall what biting off hand that he has used and likes. Unless I pre-buy one just to have around I walk into the dealer ad get it as it is one of those things that needs to be right and of good quality.

You should be able to see your shaft seal once the seat is removed I would think.

 

[ski-d00]

WSM wear rings are basically the same thing. I've used tons of SBT wear rings and they've always worked fine. That type of plastic is Delrin and very stable in temp changes compared to other plastics like PP. Something else is your problem. Is your pump seal in properly? Is your impeller nose cone in good shape? How much material did you take off when you "cleaned up" the leading edge of the impeller? A small change to the impeller can make a big difference.

I wouldn't suspect the carbon seal yet, they are pretty reliable on your model but you could take a quick look at to make sure it is not at an angle or creating carbon dust.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Didn't take off much at all on the impeller. But it may be in need of a refresh from IMPROs... I think I could get away with just their cheap "clean up" service. As for the Carbon Seal, nope, you can't see it, not on these SC models anyway. Way too much stuff in the way.

 

[red2blue]

...As for the Carbon Seal, nope, you can't see it, not on these SC models anyway. Way too much stuff in the way...

huh?.....look under the sc air intake...in front of the tunnel...5min.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Well gents, the proof is in the numbers. I measured the ring and found that it's of different thicknessesaround its circumference, the readings ranging by as much as .4mm.... my biggest tolerance is about .65mm or so. Iverified by pushingthe ring back out and rotating. Thegap moved with it. Going to return to sbt as imreturning a core prop to them,but let itbe known that a new ring may not always be good.