Water pump problems - not again

[Gary 30U]

If most of you are like me you have had some problems or concerns with the packings in your pumps. In my case the packing never leaked when running, but after it was parked and cooled down, then it would drip. I took mine in to have it rebuilt, but they said that they were not sure the one off the car could be rebuilt as it was in pretty bad shape.

I took them a spare that I had and they rebuilt it for me. I got a chance to talk to Ron, (the founder of the company)who is the father of the current operaotr. I asked Ron why, with all the new seals for hot tubes, swimming pools etc., why we couldn't have something other than a old fashioned packing to seal these pumps. He indicated that he had been thinking the same thing and thought he could put something together but didn't have a corefor my 30U left in his supply to work with. I told him he had one right there on the counter as they had told me it may not be repairable.

Ron took thet unit and bored out the front section and installed two bearings in place of the bushing. He also bored out the back section and installed two bearings and a new ceramic seal. He also installed a new shaft and a high volume directional impeller. To make it look original he bored out the jam nut and pressed it over the portion of the bearing that stuck out the back section. We put in two new oil caps and you can't tell it from an original. I have only had the car out maybe 5 times since the rebuild, but have got maybe 200 - 250 miles on it with not problems.

Again the fellows name is Ron Anderson at Automotive Friction Co. 20521 SE Highway 212, Damascus, Oregon, USA 97089. Phone is 503-353-7595. They sometinmes advertise in Hemming and all they do is clutches, and water pumps for old cars, trucks and tractors.

When I talked to Ron a couple days ago, I think he told me he had just done a pair of pumps (with the new seals) for a 1913 Cadilac V8.

Hope this helps some of you that may need work done.

Gary

[Tinkeys]

Hi  gary !!
I have recently started a similar rebuild except using ball bearings are using cased needle rollers , not yet finnished but its on the 2 do list !