37 replies to this topic

[tiggerman]

I ordered the complete carrier assemblies today from JetSkiMechanic.com
I had several options, either buy the parts and assemble them myself, or go ahead and get the carriers with seals and bearings. Buying the parts separate could cost more, actually- unless you shop around for aftermarket seals and bearings. Even then by the time you pay for the parts and shipping charges from the various parts vendors, the price could be about the same. You could be lucky and have a bearing shop local who has the bearings and seals in stock. The most expensive part in the assembly is the seals- assuming you go with the OEM from a Seadoo dealer. Even the dealers prices vary, with $13 - $24 dollars being the range.
When they get here, I will let you know how it goes!

[Kevin Leclair]

Sounds cool, keep us posted.

[tiggerman]

Starts tonight! Got all the parts in!

[tiggerman]

Just a few pics.....

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[tiggerman]

and another....

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[tiggerman]

and yet another...as you see, the part has a WSM number, which is 003-116-01 which means it should be a preassembled unit. One of them was, the other wasn't. Which isn't a problem as long as I can figure out which way the seals go in the carrier. They are different than the preassembled one.

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[tiggerman]

The carrier in the hose (which has not been cut yet.). This hose is not OEM, I picked it up in town (actually my wife did, and the place GAVE it to her.)
They told me on the phone that it was $5.99 a foot! Oh well, it was a freebie after all....

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[tiggerman]

and yet another...as you see, the part has a WSM number, which is 003-116-01 which means it should be a preassembled unit. One of them was, the other wasn't. Which isn't a problem as long as I can figure out which way the seals go in the carrier. They are different than the preassembled one.

Figured out how the seals go in with some help from riverdoo over at jetboating.net
Also had a bit of help from Robert Sands, owner of jetskimechanic.com
It is unanimous: the seals are installed with their 'lips' facing away from the center of the carrier. Creates a sort of 'valve', by allowing you to pump fresh grease in and force old grease/moisture out. Also the seals are double lipped, so you have 2 sealing surfaces.
I installed the bearing in the carrier using a hammer and a wooden dowel that was roughly the same size as the bearing. Tapped it gently right into place. Tonights project: Remove the pumps and driveshafts and fill in a groove on the shaft with epoxy. The groove is there for a c clip to hold the stainless steel ring in place. I will also get my measurements for hose length. It's gonna rain all weekend anyhow, so I might as well at least be around the boat. Stay tuned!

[Kevin Leclair]

Looking good!

[tiggerman]

Drive shaft groove empty... Shaft wrapped with clear tape on either side of the groove, just to keep epoxy where it should be.

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[tiggerman]

Filled groove. Repeat for other shaft.

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[tiggerman]

Old carbon ring and stainless ring- notice the bottom part of the carbon ring- absolutely no seal there.... explains cavitation and water in bilge.

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[tiggerman]

New grease carrier in place on starboard engine.

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[tiggerman]

Carbon ring/ss ring still in place on port engine

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[tiggerman]

Done with the retrofit. Now all I have to doo is test it. If it behaves like I think it will, it should act like a new boat. I will create a how-to, along with pics and such. It will be posted in a topic by itself.

[Kevin Leclair]

Sounds good man, good job once again!

[tiggerman]

Seal carrier how-to

This is written for the not-so-mechanically inclined…Use this information at your own risk! I am not responsible for any damage to your boat that results from the use of this how-to. Be absolutely sure that you want to do this retrofit before you get started. The methods shown below are the methods I used, and are not necessarily the correct or recommended methods of Seadoo. My boat is a 1997 Speedster, so it did not come with these carriers. The parts are WSM aftermarket.

Step one:
First things first. Since you are working on the driveline and in the engine compartment, disconnect your battery/batteries first, and remember: Don’t smoke while you’re in there.
NOTE: If your shaft has 3 grooves, STOP. This will not work for you unless you have your shaft modified or buy a different shaft. There is not enough room for the seals to ride in the proper places.
Gather all required materials. You will need: carrier assemblies or parts to put them together. I opted to buy the assemblies put together from jetskimechanic.com. They cost $49.95 each plus shipping. His part number is 720800. The WSM part number is 003-116-1. This is the carrier, two seals and the bearing. The grease fitting is there too, but I replaced it with one that is a bit more heavy-duty. You also need the protector hoses. Either buy the ones from the dealer or get some marine hardwall exhaust hose, 1 5/8” inside diameter. Get 1 foot, chances are you won’t need it all, but you can have the extra hose for spare parts. Grab your tools (nothing special) and get started!
If you opt for the OEM Seadoo parts, here's a list:
293200025 -seal, 2 of them
272000024- carrier, 2 of them
293350007- bearing, 2 of them
293200012-seal, 2 of them
272000043- hose, 2 of them
You will need the grease fittings for the carriers as well, but can get them at the autoparts store.
First thing to do is open the engine compartment. Remove the PTO protector (grey plastic on my boat) to expose the PTO and the existing seals. Using a screwdriver or pry bar for leverage, push the stainless steel ring aft (to the rear) to expose either an o-ring or a metal c-clip. Remove the clip or roll the o-ring forward toward the PTO. Remove the clamps on the PTO boot (one small and one larger). Repeat for the other side, assuming you have a twin-engine boat. Go to the rear of the boat. Disconnect the steering cable(s) from the steering nozzles. Disconnect the shifter cable(s) from the reverse gates. If the steel bar in the middle, such as the ‘98 twins, connects your reverse gates disconnect it too to keep from bending it. Look at the pump mounting bolts (pump to pump housing), and you will see 4 nuts with lock washers. Your 17mm socket fits these. Remove all four nuts, lock washers, and flat washers. Once this is done, you can pull the pump toward you, and it should come off. The driveshaft may come with it, but that’s OK. Careful not to lose the rubber plug from either end of the driveshaft. The PTO end may stay in the PTO, use slim needle nose pliers or hemostats to get them out.
Loosen the hose clamps from the accordion hoses in the engine compartment. Once loose, the hose/carbon ring assembly should slide off. Inspect these clamps for any corrosion or rust. Replace if you find ANY (for you JimFla) damage or deterioration.
Pick up the stainless steel ring and o-ring from where it fell in the engine compartment.
Look at your carbon/SS rings. See if you can tell if you had a good seal or not. Mine was quite obvious that I didn’t have a seal on one side, and that was where my water in the bilge came from- not to mention my cavitation.
The next step may require some additional hands- I did it myself because no one was interested in helping. Insert the driveshaft back up thru the hole and into the PTO. Make sure you put the rubber bumper back in the end of the shaft. Insert the carrier into the hose (if you bought the pre-made hose) and hold it up next to the shaft. You want the hose/carrier assembly to be just long enough where the front seal wont ride on the groove in the shaft (assuming you have a single groove). Make adjustments in the hose length to accommodate this. If you bought the OEM hose from Seadoo, you shouldn't have to cut it (assuming you used the OEM carriers). If you are using a hard wall exhaust hose, hold the carrier up next to the shaft and measure back from the step on the carrier to where the thru-hull fitting comes thru the hull. Make sure the front seal is not going to ride on the groove. I cut my hoses to 2” in length(remember, I used the WSM carriers), but measure this for yourself. I don’t want you to cut them too short.
Now you need to put some grease in them . I used the Super Lube Marine Grease sold at Wal-Mart for this. Any premium lithium based marine grease will do. Manually pack grease inside the carrier- in the rollers and behind both seals. Put some on the seal lips too. Use your finger to get the grease where it needs to be.
Next, you have to find a way to get the seals over the groove in the shaft. I filled my groove with epoxy. The reason I did this was to get the lips of the seal over the groove without damaging them. You can try clear packing tape, as long as the seal will slide over it and you can get all the tape off the shaft when you’re done. My seals fit really tight on the shaft, so the tape was not an option.
Once this is done, mount the hose on the carrier. The grease fitting faces up. Mount this assembly to the thru-hull fitting, and tighten the clamps. Don’t over tighten or you could strip them.
Put a thin coat of grease on the shaft and slide it back into place. You are going to have to twist it and push it to get it up through the seals and into the PTO. Be sure your PTO boot is on and the rubber bumpers are still in place on the shaft. Once the shaft is pushed all the way up into the PTO, look at it. Make sure the o-ring groove is visible (all of it) and the shaft will turn in the carrier smoothly. Turn the PTO by hand and check this. If everything feels OK, and the shaft spins freely, put some grease on the impeller end of the shaft and bolt the pump back up in place. Check that the bumper is in the impeller end of the shaft too. Put the nuts back on and tighten them back up. Once again, spin the PTO by hand and make sure everything turns, as it should. Repeat for the other side. If the shaft binds in the carriers, and you can’t get the pumps to go back on easily, then you may have to adjust the engine alignment to unbind the shafts. The new hoses are less flexible than the old bellows you just removed, and you may have been running the engines out of alignment all along. That could explain oddly worn carbon rings that won’t seal. I loosened my engine mount bolts (4) and let the engine shift on it’s own- which surprisingly freed up the shafts to spin freely. That was the cause of my hard to seal carbon rings. The alignment looked much better once I did this. It was hard to tell with the bellows in place that the alignment was off. Remember to retighten the engine mounts if you had to do this step.
Get your grease gun out and put grease in the PTO and carrier. Remember, you hand packed the carrier, so it won’t take very much to fill it, if any. Fill the PTO slowly, when it is full, the shaft will move back toward the impeller. STOP. Enough grease. If you pushed the shaft back too much, take the grease nipple out and let the shaft move forward and push the excess grease out. Reinstall nipple; make sure you put the PTO boot clamps (or wire ties) back on. Check everything again and makes sure you tightened all clamps, all nuts and bolts, and have your linkages back in place. After you’re done checking, check everything again! May sound like overkill, but I assure you it’s best to look at it again then find something you overlooked after you are on the lake. Run the engine(s) for about 45 seconds, with the PTO cover off. Shut them down, and immediately feel the carriers. BE CAREFUL!! They will be HOT!! This is why you should get the large carriers by WSM instead of the OEM small carriers. More aluminum to dissipate more heat away from the bearings and seals.
Congratulations, if everything went well, you just completed the retrofit! The first time in the water after this procedure should be for testing only! Don’t go out with the intentions of making a family holiday out of it. Be aware of any odd noises or anything out of the ordinary. You may want to leave the PTO protectors off this trip, so you can see the carriers and any sign of trouble. You want to make sure that the seals are sealing and the bearings aren’t binding and running the carrier too hot.
I wish you luck in your venture!!! My thanks to riverdoo and xpwarrior from jetboating.net. Most of my questions were answered thanks to those two.

[tiggerman]

New grease carrier in place on starboard engine.

Port side carrier..

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[Kevin Leclair]

Thanks for the how-to tiggerman, excellent work!

[tiggerman]

Hang on before you start congratulating me.... they aren't quite perfect. There is an overheating issue..... The carriers get hot enough to cook eggs, or anything that touches them for that matter. Never seen anything like it. There is obviously a lubrication problem here, too much friction!!!!