Super Jet Solas Mag Pump Ate My Bearings- How About You?

[john zigler]

I stock / sell SOLAS pumps here, and have checked all of ours....

Any pump sold by RCJS / Watcon will be good to go. ( proper clearance)

 

[Matt_E]

Some machinist supposedly said that the housing bore for the bearings is out of round. That is not what I found. - My housings a are too tight- too much interference fit for the bearings. I will not be going to W/F but I hope others will stop by the Solas booth, inquire about the issue and watch the engineer tap dance.

Considering that this isn't a problem for all Solas pumps but only a fraction, it's most likely not an engineering but a manufacturing problem. So unless the engineer there is a manufacturing engineer, he/she has nothing to tap-dance about.

 

[Kny21]

Considering that this isn't a problem for all Solas pumps but only a fraction, it's most likely not an engineering but a manufacturing problem. So unless the engineer there is a manufacturing engineer, he/she has nothing to tap-dance about.

True, but they still need to be aware of the problem and impacted percentages. Are they even aware?

Maybe then they'll step up and offer a solution to those that bought and are running into issues.

 

[MX429]

Add me to the list of Solas Mag pump failures.

I put together my conversion 1200 blaster and decided to go with the mag pump. During the conversion, I replaced the midshaft bearing with an entire new assembly. I first ran the ski with the stock pump and my previous impeller. The ski ran great and I ran about a tank and a 1/2 through it and all was good except for needing more pitch to the prop.

I decided to go with the mag pump and solas concord prop. The pump was assembled with new bearings and seals per the Yamaha service manual procedure for bearing replacement.

I took the ski out and it was an animal. It ran great and I was completely impressed. I only rode it for about 10-15 minutes when I made a hard turn and caught the slight smell of grease. I put the ski on the trailer and took it home. I pulled the pump and found that the bearings have failed. I am very surprised by this. The assembly went together great, and the bearings did not seem to be overly forced into place. I am at a loss as to why this happened and worried that it will happen again.

 

[Fro Diesel]

Anybody address it at world finals?

 

[oside-tanner]

At the solas booth at world finals I asked to talk to the engineer. He acknowledge that it is a known problem and said they are working on it. I asked if I buy a pump when could he guarantee that I have one of the newer corrected pumps. He said he wasn't sure about that

 

[MX429]

A known problem and they are working on it................What about the folks that have already had issues? That's crazy.

 

[tvcracer]

At the solas booth at world finals I asked to talk to the engineer. He acknowledge that it is a known problem and said they are working on it. I asked if I buy a pump when could he guarantee that I have one of the newer corrected pumps. He said he wasn't sure about that

Holy z that was there answer?

 

[Matt_E]

Holy z that was there answer?

What are you so surprised about? It's a small company in a very small niche sport.

 

[MX429]

A question related to my failure.

When I pulled the pump, there was grease on the driveshaft that was expelled from the midshaft bearing. Since this is a brand new item I cant imagine it failing also unless it was taken out by the vibrating pump shaft.

My question is does grease on this shaft automatically point to a midshaft bearing failure also? OR Is this bearing designed to release grease though the shaft and this grease was released due to the excess vibration at the time of bearing failure?

I am thinking that since the midshaft bearing has a grease fitting, grease has to go somewhere when you pump new grease in.

 

[Matt_E]

There is supposed to be grease on the shaft/midshaft joint (on the splines).
The grease fitting allows grease to get behind the seals to keep water out. It doesn't grease the bearings.

 

[spookyjjj]

Eye'm having a fun experiance... More to tell later

 

[MX429]

I pulled my midshaft bearing assembly this afternoon. The midshaft bearing is fine but the grease on the shaft did come from here. The seal on the back pushed out most likely from me having it much too full of grease and the shaft vibrating from the pump bearings. I pulled the rear most seal and now I see just how small the space for grease is. I think I will pack the seal with grease good when I re install it and most likely never grease it again. The cavity is so small that too many pumps and you pop this seal out just like I did.

I was happy to find the midshaft bearing in good shape and basically see this as an unrelated problem to the pump.

However.....The fact still remains that my brand new mag pump, with brand new impeller, and brand new bearings failed within not much more than 10 minutes. I found a set of C3 spec Nachi sealed bearings and I am thinking of trying them. I can find C3 spec SKS bearings also. I would like to try the looser C4 spec bearings but those are proving to be harder to find. If anyone has anymore information on this subject, keep the post alive. I am researching this as much as I can so that hopefully the next time my pump goes together it can stay that way for a long while.

 

[kevbo]

I pulled my midshaft bearing assembly this afternoon. The midshaft bearing is fine but the grease on the shaft did come from here. The seal on the back pushed out most likely from me having it much too full of grease and the shaft vibrating from the pump bearings. I pulled the rear most seal and now I see just how small the space for grease is. I think I will pack the seal with grease good when I re install it and most likely never grease it again. The cavity is so small that too many pumps and you pop this seal out just like I did.

I was happy to find the midshaft bearing in good shape and basically see this as an unrelated problem to the pump.

However.....The fact still remains that my brand new mag pump, with brand new impeller, and brand new bearings failed within not much more than 10 minutes. I found a set of C3 spec Nachi sealed bearings and I am thinking of trying them. I can find C3 spec SKS bearings also. I would like to try the looser C4 spec bearings but those are proving to be harder to find. If anyone has anymore information on this subject, keep the post alive. I am researching this as much as I can so that hopefully the next time my pump goes together it can stay that way for a long while.

The splines need grease too. Yamaha never used 6205 for thrust loads behind any engine more powerful than a 760. Turn the shaft to accept 5205 double row bearing like 1100s had.

 

[special fx]

Eye'm having a fun experiance... More to tell later

Do tell?

 

[spookyjjj]

Do tell?

I need to know every aspect before I tell my input but for now but I had a 10minute ride like the rest. I paid a well respected person on this site to install my bearings in my pump. I was trying to avoid this problem like the rest of the postings above but another problem may have made my pump fail soooo I had to be sent back for inspection. I will say for that 10 Minutes with that Mag Pump a HUGE Increase in Thrust!!! I do have a feeling by the time I get this done a should of purchaced a Skat or a TBM Pump Stuffer. My last ride of the season was a BIG Rush untill something happened. I had to put my ski away not complete with the question of will this happen again and I have to wait 4 months to find out . I may just buy a stock backup and put a TBM Pump Stuffer in it so I don't have this down time and riding my 550 isn't the same anymore after riding my jet lol More to be posted when inspection takes place to see what actaully is the problem.

 

[tor*p*do]

doesnt matter who assembles them or how they are assembled
they will fail
unless additional machining is done prior to assembly

 

[spookyjjj]

doesnt matter who assembles them or how they are assembled
they will fail
unless additional machining is done prior to assembly

My pump was machined but my impeller was somewhat stuck on my shaft and it had to be heated to be removed which there was thread damage. The threads got reworked and all put back together and sent back to me and installed. I rode for 10 minutes and my ski was acting like i had some debree going through my pump, which it's fall here and i ride a river and thought i had leaves going through it, sooo I went to shore and put it on the trailer and started it up and then I heard the grinding/chalk board scratching sounds. I removed my pump and discovered I has a wobble in my drive shart and my impeller looked like it moved forward and my new impros has a nice little steel lip on it as it was grinding agains my wear ring. I believe the reworked threads failed and caused my impeller to not run straight which threw out my bearings. But this is to be determined under inspection of my pump to see if it was the pump bearings that failed or the threads didn't hold, but like all who have bearing fail I had 10 minutes like the rest with some other factors which could of caused it... I hope it was just the bearings which were oem but I have heard of people using the enclosed ones with success. so Thats the story lol and inspection still has to be done when pump arrives to see what exactly failed. p.s maybe looking for a like new wear ring & driveshaft pm me

 

[MX429]

There have been a lot of different opinions in this thread about what causes this. From the number of people that have had problems, it is obvious that this is not an isolated type of issue. Its not exactly rocket science either. We are dealing with a shaft spinning on two bearings that are pressed into a housing.

Possible causes:

1. Improper installation - seems hard to believe that this many people are smashing their bearings during install to the point that they fail right away.

2. This new housing with larger hub and more vanes creates forces the other housing did not and is too much for the bearings to handle????

3. The internal clearance of the hub is too tight and causes the bearing to be squeezed to the point that it fails during use because its internal tolerances become too tight? If this is the cause then what should the hub bore diameter be? If I knew that number it would be easy to check.

4. Use of substandard bearings? I doubt many people here are doing that

There has to be a common denominator in all of these pump failures. If anyone has a spec on what that internal bore of the pump should be please share it.

 

[Watty]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm pretty sure we had these pumps in Australia a good six months before anywhere else. The first (or second) pump I bought had this exact same problem all the way back then. I have always fitted bearings the same way and never had a single problem. This one pump ate 3 sets of bearings, and in the end, I sent it back to my local supplier who was good enough to offer a replacement. The new one was put together the same way and has been perfect since (around 2 years)

Unfortunately it seems a bit hit and miss, but my advice is to have your supplier fit the bearings and shaft so you know you are covered in case something goes wrong. In saying that, I have one in my ski now that has been put together the same way and has been perfect. Also, I now use 6205 C3 Nachi bearings as suggested by my supplier. So far so good.