Intake grate tine broke

[mdchachi]

I noticed a hydro-surge tine broke off and I think it happened last weekend. I don't know but I assume the grate I had was the original. Should I assume everything is ok in the pump or are there things I should check? If it runs, I can assume there's no way for the tine to be stuck in there somewhere is there?

Also I know from the archives the general recommendation is to go to a fixed grate. However I noticed the part number for the hydro-surge tines are now 856627T3 which would seem to indicate they have changed the part a couple times (perhaps to fix the quality issues they had). So I'm wondering if anybody has experience with the newer part and if it's less prone to breakage.

The idea behind the hydro-surge is good I think. And we have a lot of weeds on our inland lakes here so I like the original design. But not if the risk is major damage due to broken tines.

 

[Coastiejoe]

You would know if you had an issue. Many have lost a time and had no knowledge of it happening.


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[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

If the broken tine actually was sucked into the jet pump, it would cause enough damage to severely affect pump performance. Sounds like you were lucky this didn't happen.

I would consider replacing the broken assembly with a quality replacement of similar design, the function of these is fairly important so I wouldn't attempt to replace it with some sort of high performance pump loader grate as those sometimes don't work as well depending on the design and other performance modification packages that might be required.

All pump loaders aren't created equal, some much better than others. Generally speaking, a boat without a V hull will sometimes require a pump loader type of intake grate.

 

[henryb]

I think in general you will find that a fixed grate will give you less headaches then the hydro-surge.

The issue with the hydro-surge is that the spring that holds the hinged times closed gets old and weak, therefore allowing the times to open up at virtually any speed... So when you are idling around the dock you are more susceptible to picking up debris other then weeds.

In my own personal experience, last year alone I picked up some rope, a burlap bag and chunks of clay... Each time it left me stranded miles from home. Not only that, because it is open even at idle, I sucked up clumps of weeds that clogged the impeller so badly, the boat would hardly move.

My guess is if I had a brand new spring with my hydro-surge it "may" have avoided some of these mishaps?

But in my situation, I park my boat in a boat house that has a lot of smallish rocks on the bottom, only 2.5 feet deep... So after sucking up a few small rocks, I decided to change mine over to the Rock grate. I have not had a problem with sucking up debris ever since.

There are 2 fixed grates available: the standard fixed grate, made of aluminum with 6 tines. And the Rock grate made out of Stainless Steel and has 11 tines.

I have heard a number of people get the Rock grate and modify it by removing every other tine, to make have 5 tines, thinking it will allow more water volume into the pump? However from my experience with the new Rock grate, I get exactly the same performance that I did with the old hydro-surge that had a very weak spring... So essentially, it was an open grate virtually all of the time!


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[mdchachi]

I decided to go with the original hydro-surge grate in the hopes that the later part number improved quality. I'm just mentioning it because I just happened to find it on eBay today for less than half list price. There are a few left if anybody is interested. It was suspicious at first, I thought it might be the old part. But a large marine store in Michigan is just getting rid of overstock. There were close enough to me that I could pick it up. Lucky break.