Water pump impeller clip..

[Tommmmd]

Need a few thoughts on removing the snap ring. I have a pair of (Moyer supplied) snap ring pliers to get the darn thing out, but I think the impeller rubber has cold-flowed (sic) over the clip & is applying pressure on it. The pliers keep slipping. It's a little tough with reading glasses to be sure, but I can open the clip, just cannot get it off. Should I cut the impeller arms off? Seems drastic but I;m headed that way unless I get a better suggestion. The ides is that it wold relieve some of the pressure I think is being exerted onto the clip.

It's four years old but is low mileage! Any takers?

Thx, TD

[Qben]

If you can spread the snap ring like you said, try having someone pull the shaft out while pushing on the back of the impeller. If you can slide the shaft out, the snap ring should no longer be a problem.

Never tried it, but maybe it would work.

Qben Oliver

[marthur]

I think Qben is right. What he describes is exactly the opposite procedure for installing the snap ring on tight impellers.

Good Luck!

[Tommmmd]

Sliding shaft..

I'll take a look, but my recollectin is that the shaft is retianed by the pump & the ring frees the impeller to slide out. Not much to grab onto. The back of the impeller is seated in the housing..?

Thx, Tom

[CalebD]

I had a similar problem while replacing our impeller this spring. The shaft on our fairly new water pump is captive inside the pump body. Since the access on our boat to the water pump is very restricted we decided to remove the 2 bolts that hold the pump to the engine and work on getting the old impeller off and replace with a new one in a shop environment instead of in the bilge/engine compartment.
The circlip will come off the shaft with persuasion by a screw driver but we could not even see the clip with the pump attached to the engine. With the pump on a work bench it was easy to work on.

[marthur]

On the standard Oberdorfer water pump the shaft is only held in place by the friction of the seals, impeller and accessory drive. It should be possible to pull the shaft and impeller out. Get a good grip on the impeller with pliers and give it some "welly." Some years ago I disovered this approximately 60 seconds before I learned that the impeller was held in place by a snap ring

On the Oberdorfer the snap ring is required because the shaft can float and the engineers didn't want it to rub on the cover plate. On the Moyer pump the shaft is held inplace by the bearings, which is why no snap ring is required.

Here is a picture of a dissassembled oberdorfer:

[sastanley]

hidden clip!

marthur, Great pic.

I recall when rebuilding my pump that similar to CalebD's observations that you can't really see the snap ring, as there is some rubber on the impeller that all but hides it, & I had it apart on a well lit workbench. I can imagine trying to see that thing installed in the boat, and I have decent access to the back of my engine.

That being said, I bought a tiny pair of snap ring pliers and put them in my tool box, so in theory I should at least be able to remove the impeller/shaft assembly & replace it on board if necessary.

[marthur]

Here is a link to more pictures showing a complete pump rebuild. It shows the snap ring and impeller:

Pump Rebuild Pictures

[Baltimore Sailor]

marthur, Great pic.

I recall when rebuilding my pump that similar to CalebD's observations that you can't really see the snap ring, as there is some rubber on the impeller that all but hides it, & I had it apart on a well lit workbench. I can imagine trying to see that thing installed in the boat, and I have decent access to the back of my engine.

That being said, I bought a tiny pair of snap ring pliers and put them in my tool box, so in theory I should at least be able to remove the impeller/shaft assembly & replace it on board if necessary.

Which is why, when I get around to it, I am going to buy a spare shaft and snap ring. That way I can keep a fully prepared impeller/shaft assembly in my toolbox for instant swapping out and in.

[Tommmmd]

Great pix..

Teriffic! Thanks for the great tutorial for the rebuild. I had no idea the shaft was floating.

Tom

[sastanley]

forever shopping cart!

BS,
Wouldn't it be nice if Bill could build a shopping cart/wish list feature that we could save in the Moyer store?

That way we can add small parts that aren't needed immediately and thus not forget them during our next order, like I just did when ordering nothing but the hand crank a few weeks ago.

[roadnsky]

Sounds an awful lot like a hint to me...
Bill?

[Administrator]

Stay tuned. We're working on it.

Bill

[sastanley]

[FelicityRebuild]

Yesssss!

You should also allow others to see our wishlist in case parents of us poor, newly divorced people want to buy us gifts...