550 Waterpump Rebuild

FBB good addendum to the thread. I just went thru the same thing 3 weeks ago when I rebuilt the pump on my 575. I made a similar tool that you show above except I turned the entire thing on the lathe. I also made a sleeve that fits on the opposite side for support and removal. This way when the seal is pressed in the sleeve holds the bearing in place without putting too much pressure on the snap ring. Worked really well.

 

FFB the 12.45 on the V gauge is that the inside depth my tool should be to give me the correct pressure. TIA

 

No

 

These are the tools I made to rebuild the water pump on my 575. I wish I would have taken the pict with the pump they would make much more sense. (1) left is the tool to push out the bearing. (2) the tool to press the seal in. (3) the support for the bearing while the seal is being pressed in. (4) just an extension.

BTW I put the bearing in the freezer and the case in the oven at 275 for 1/2 hour, the bearing slipped back in with no pressure at all. Taking the bearing our required quite a bit of pressure from the press.
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575 would you be so kind as to tell me what depth your seal putterinner is where I have mark in red my seal tool is at a depth of 12.1 mm and is what I used to fit my seal but it felt like there was to much resistance. I also found the bearing wee bit on the tight side on removal.TIA
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I measured the tool and it is 12.17mm. I did notice however that the seal that I received from Ricambi is not exactly the same as the original seal. The original seal required somewhat less than 12mm. What I did to arrive at 12.17mm was to measure the seal spring travel fully compressed and then not compressed. 12mm happened to be approximately in the middle. I have a feeling that the depth of the tool is not a one size fits all situation based on your comments and prior posts I have read.

 

I know this is an old thread, but I have a couple of questions regarding the seal. Mostly order of operation. If I understand correctly, I will be compressing (squishing) the seal to a height of about 12+mm (numbers above differ). This is accomplished with the special tool as discussed. When is this done in the assembly process? Before the seal is installed? During the seal installation into the water pump body?

Is the bearing pressed in before the seal is placed in the body, or is the seal installed first?

I have also seen a PVC reducer advertised with some seal kits. Here is AW Italian. It appears to be a reducer 1-1/2" to 3/4" I found a similar one at Home Depot. Has anyone tried that as a tool?

Thanks, Ken

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For a $700 new pump is all this effort worth it ?

 

Replying to the old post - just because I've done the rebuild on my own:

- the seal must be in the "squeezed" position when you are inserting the bearing shaft. It must basically be in the "natural" position as fatbillybob said (see very first post of this page)

- so basically during the insertion of the shaft (and bearing) when, it reaches the seal, support the seal, so that it is "sqeezed" when the shaft will go through it

- obviously the seal must be installed first (I've used a 34 socket). Best is to press it in with a press, not a hammer or so. Recent seals are much more fragile then what I've seen in the first post of this topic. Then you can proceed with pushing in the new bearing + shaft

Hope this info can be of help to other people

 

The pvc fitting makes it easy. Just fit it and press. Aw Italian provides it with the seal. FBB makes it way too complicated and includes unnecessary information that just confuses a simple process.

 

Hello any advice on bearing source for my 348 water pump?


Kind tegards

 

You can buy the bearing from Ricambi. Or the other outfit in Phoenix AZ. I do have to confess that the last 2 or 3 water pumps I have attempted to rebuild using the new seals did not turn out well. Yes, I have the professional tools but after the seals were pressed in, the pump makes a grinding noise when turning by hand. I ended up just buying the new $800 pump. The less expensive after market pump(s) are no longer available due to spotty quality of the builds.

Your Mileage May Vary.

 

Last I tried no one was selling bearings for the 348 pumps. I did a search and found a Chinese company had one the right size but it was a really terrible design bearing.

Buy new.

 

Thats a common problem when trying to install a seal with the wrong OD. There are several and suppliers often sell the wrong one.
I have seen it happen too when improperly installed.

 

I got the bearing info from Dick Jordan before he retired. He also gave the the okay on sharing it because he was leaving the pump rebuilding business. I’ll have to dig around to find it.

But in all honesty the water pump that Ferraripilot has made is an excellent pump. The scroll impeller in his pump is vastly superior design to the stock impeller. The pump is also anodized to help prevent corrosion. Just be careful of the supplier you buy it from because there have been some Chinese knockoffs floating around. They look like Ferraripilot’s pumps, but are poor quality, especially the bearings.

 

You know where can I source a Ferraripilot pump?


Kind regards

 

They don't sell those anymore due to quality control issues.

 

I talked with Ferraripilot and he stopped manufacturing them because people kept buying the knock offs.

 

Dug through my notes from Dick Jordan.
ASE Industries Inc. in Los Angeles California is the supplier he used. Here is their website. https://aseindustries.com
I'm still looking for the part number for the specific bearing he used. I may even have a few laying around somewhere. However they do need to be machined in order to fit the impeller to the shaft. I'll post up the info once I find it.