Need some help! Impeller touching wear ring

[awague2]

I was wondering if anyone could help me out. This whole thing may have started towards the end of last summer, but I'm not positive. I have a 97 GTX with about 115 hours. At the end of last summer, someone rode my ski and sucked up a rope in the water. The ski lost about 7 mph when the rope was stuck in there. I took the rope out but had never ridden it until about April of this year. The first time I took it out ( my buddy was on this one, I'm on my RXP), it was fine for a while and then lost right at 16 mph (56 mph to 40 mph). It ended up being that the wear ring was totally shot (could see the area the wear ring sits in - white color). I changed the wear ring and brought the ski out this weekend. It ran fine for a while, and then some grass got wrapped around the shaft. The ski could not get out of the water. We got as much out as we could out there on the water and then put the ski back on the trailer. I started the ski up today and noticed that the bottom part of the impeller is touching the wear ring and tearing it to shreds. Is this a sign of a bent shaft or misaligned shaft? Are there any bearings that may be shot? Anyone have any suggestions on what could be happening and the way to go about fixing it? Thanks!

[seadoodude]

if the drive shaft were bent, it would be vibrating badly. At first I was thinking the motor shifted and out of alignment, but I don't think either would cause the impeller to start hitting the wear ring. Since the pump impeller and shaft are independent from the drive shaft and supported by it's own bearings, it must be a cracked pump housing or bent impeller, or damaged pump bearings. you may need to pull the pump and inspect. you gotta do that anyway to change the wear ring.

[awague2]

Thanks SeaDooDude! I plan on taking it off Sunday and doing all the checks. Anyone else have anything they think may be causing the problem. I just want to get as many different opinions just to be looking when I take this thing apart again.

[96XPSS]

Do you have the original bronze stator pump, or newer replacement all plastic?

Also, did you lose the bottom shims that were on the bottom studs of the pump originally?

[awague2]

96XPSS, It's the original bronze pump. As far as the shims, or you talking about the washers. Everything I took off, I had put right back on when I changed the wear ring. Could it be that something may have shifted from not tightening it enough (possibly?). I ran it for a while near my home right after changing the wear ring, and everything seemed fine except for the pressure regulator I had changed. There was no rubbing or anything. It wasn't until memorial day weekend (after sucking up some grass) that it started touching off. Any ideas?

[96XPSS]

Hmm...

You know for sure the impeller wasn't hitting when you first installed it, and now it is?

If so, then you must have water inside the pump and have trashed the bearings. Grass would not cause the impeller to shift, nor the wear ring.

The shims I was talking about are aluminum and SD installs them at the bottom of the pump studs against the transom. This prevents the bottom two ears of the pump from flexing when tightening, and distorting the roundness of the pump/wear ring. This will happen immediately upon first tightening of the wear ring. You can shine a light inside the pump while torquing it down and actually see it flex.

I'd remove the pump, then cone, and see if the oil contains water. Then check the bearings for excessive play.

[diver2694]

could be corrosion between pump and wear ring causing bumps to appear in the wear ring! Just a thought??!!??