Water Pump

[Ron D]

Another great photo Chuck.
Did you happen to take a close-up of the end of the pin in the slot?

How much of the pin disappears into the slot?
Is it as much as 1/4 inch?
Trying to figure out how much of mine is buried.......

Thanks again.

[Chuck W.]

Not really, but maybe these will give you some idea:

[Rus Curtis]

Good information!  I wouldn't have guessed the spring would be visible from the outside. 

[Ron D]

Well, I broke the spring clip.
Can't do anything with the small stub left.

Nothing to do now but press the bearing out and hope for the best.

[Chuck W.]

I hate to hear that. If you need another Willys style pump housing, I have several you are welcome to.
Those springs are really tough to get out, as you well know.
I'm thinking about using Loctite 641 medium retaining compound instead of the spring, at least we know that a little heat will make it turn loose.

[Chuck W.]

I finished the Willys water pump rebuild today.
Here's the new impeller and seal:


Pressing the impeller onto the shaft. I use a 1" spacer under the impeller so the impeller and shaft sit flush when pressed together:


Impeller flush with the shaft:


Pressing the pulley onto the shaft, be sure to keep the spacer under the impeller and shaft so they stay flush:


I gave all the unpainted parts of the pump a good coat of Fluid Film, then wrapped it in several layers of cling wrap. Last was a tag with the rebuild date:


Still waiting on the seal for the reproduction pump, hope it is correct.

[Chuck W.]

The Chinese seal came for the reproduction pump and is almost a perfect match.





The seal OD fits the pump housing, but the ID is about .005" smaller than the shaft, so looks like I am going to have to open it up a little with a Dremel.
I damaged the seal trying to get it onto the shaft, so I have another one on order.
This seal is listed as "uxcell 16mm Internal Dia Rubber Bellows Coil Pump Shaft Mechanical Seal" on E-Bay and Amazon, but apparently I got the last one, as they are now showing as out of stock.

[Rus Curtis]

The seal OD fits the pump housing, but the ID is about .005" smaller than the shaft, so looks like I am going to have to open it up a little with a Dremel.
I damaged the seal trying to get it onto the shaft, so I have another one on order.

I would have first wondered if the fitment on the shaft was to keep the seem between the seal/shaft water-tight, i.e. need to press it on.  Just guessing out loud.  Based on my dremel skills, I would have definitely "wallered" the hole where it no longer fit the shaft.

Looking forward to see how you solve this!

[Ron D]

Maybe put the shaft in the freezer for a couple of hours to shrink it?

[Chuck W.]

I'm still thinking about the order of assembly.
When I took it apart, I pressed the shaft out through the seal, then removed the seal from the pump housing. When I tried to go back together, I did the reverse, installed the new seal into the pump housing and then tried to press the shaft into both the housing and the seal....didn't work, no way to support the seal without damaging it.
Maybe Ron's idea, freezing the shaft, along with soaking the seal assembly in hot water will work.

I would have first wondered if the fitment on the shaft was to keep the seem between the seal/shaft water-tight,

I don't think the seal has to be watertight to the shaft, but it does have to be tight enough for the ID of the seal to turn with the shaft, so it does need to be a press fit.
I need to do some very careful measuring, time to put away the calipers and get out the mics and ball gauges!

[Chuck W.]

Aftermarket water pump rebuild update:
After some thinking, I decided that I needed to press on both surfaces at the same time, so here's the tool that I turned on the lathe:


The seal fits into the tool and the top and bottom surfaces bottom out at the
same time.




I used my press to push the assembly onto the shaft until it seated into the pump housing. Everything looks perfect, nothing deformed on the seal.
I finished by pressing the impeller and the pulley onto the shaft. Pump turns smoothly. Time will tell.