how tight is too tight: impeller

[remme]

replaced the wear rings on my 96 speedster....noticed the fins of my impellers were curled up, left it like that tho. did a little wet trial and boat wont go over 10mph. it accellerates smoothly to about 4500 rpms and then jumps to the rev limiter instantly and the boat slows down. i figured it must be the impellers so i purchased new ones. the install went smoothly until i got to the oil cone. it seems if i tighten the cone completely, the impeller wont spin....the looser i sit the cone the free-er the impeller spins....did i do something wrong? if i dont tighten the cone all the way the oil will leak out, but the impeller wont spin if it is as tight as possibly....any ideas?

side note: before i changed out the wear rings, the boat would take forever to plane w/ some one HAVING to sit on the bow seat. but once it planed it went about 45mph....now with the new wear rings, i have alot of low end power, seems like she wants to get up and go, but like i said, once i hit 4500 rpms it just revs out and i die in the water...if its not the impellers what else could it be?

getting awfully tired of spending money when ive used the boat only 3 times....this is strike three for her, if she doesnt work now....shes getting sold

 

[nswillin]

Dont get too frustrated, once you get all the kinks worked out you'll have fun and it will be worth it. If the impeller is dinged up you curled up a little it is out of balance and will vibrate and damage wear ring. You could of pinched the thrust washer when you put the impeller back on. Sometime it will slide into the groove on the shaft when you are torquing it down, did it myself first time I changed mine. Yours should be torqued to 52lbft*ft.

Just to be safe do a compression test on the engine to go ahead and rule that out. Go from there. If it's just dying after you get to 4500rpms it could be a lot of things. Fuel, engine, or the impeller is too tight. I would double check the torque on the impeller and make sure it spins freely with the jet pump off.

 

[remme]

the engine itself doesnt die...the boat simply loses forward momentum and "dies" in the water....ive been working on it all day...im gunna take a break and then take another stab at it tomorrow

 

[nswillin]

Oh ok, gotcha. Prob the impeller then. When you put the impeller on manually rotate impeller and push so it slides on impeller shaft threads. Carefully engage thread making sure they are well aligned. Install impeller tool and tighten to 52lbft*ft. Make sure thrust washer and bearing are not wedged in shaft groove. To check, manually pull and push jet pump housing, some axial play must be felt.
Good luck.:cheers:

 

[scooper77515]

I did the same thing when replacing my wear ring. I torqued it all down and it wouldn't spin freely. Took it back apart, inspected everything, and reassembled, and it spun fine after that. I was pinching the bearing...