IMPELLER TRICKS

I read and enjoyed Tom Neele’s article “Down And Dirty In The Engine Room,” ( March 2017 and in a recent Dispatches eNewsletter) and can thoroughly empathize with every aspect, from screwdriver drops to contorted one-handed grabs for unseen parts.

One tidbit that I wanted to offer for help to readers hoping to do their own repairs, whether maintenance or emergency, would be:

When attempting to re-install a rubber impeller, say, into a sea water pump, the easy trick would be to compress the vanes in the spin direction, and hold them down using a series of nylon Ty-Raps.

Just zip the first one over the leading edge of the impeller, about a 1/2 inch from the end. This should suffice to compress the vanes adequately to allow the (already pre-lubricated with teflon based lube) impeller to slide into the (already pre-lubricated with teflon based lube) pump housing.

With the larger impellers, like the ones in our Caterpillar C-12’s, I typically run a set of four Ty-Raps along the body of the impeller. As you slide the compressed impeller into the pump body, just carefully snip the inner most Ty-Rap, and be sure to remove the entire wrap, and continue the process until the impeller bottoms out on the wear plate. Once in, check for tolerance, insert either the (already pre-lubricated “O” ring, or gasket — depending on pump design) and install the (already pre-lubricated with Teflon-based lube) end cover, and screw in with bolts that have been lubricated with non-seize compound. We use the paste copper-based product available from Cat.

I hope this helps — it’s made a world of difference in keeping my engine maintained. Now, excuse me, as I need to have lunch.... in my engine room! (Yes, it’s that clean.)

Thanks again, keep writing the good stuff, and we will keep reading it. For a set of photos that illustrate this repair go to: