Water Pump.

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
Whos replaced the water pump and how bad is it to change? Do I need a sealer to put the new gasket on?
 

stormsurge

Member
Jan 29, 2012
386
Hav'nt changed one on a trailvoy yet, but should'nt be to tuff. I would use some sealant if it was me.
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
stormsurge said:
Hav'nt changed one on a trailvoy yet, but should'nt be to tuff. I would use some sealant if it was me.

I picked up sealant just to be safe. I have never done a water pump, so this should be fun lol
 

stormsurge

Member
Jan 29, 2012
386
If you did'nt live so far i would say bring it by tomarrow afternoon. I make a run to wisconsin at 3:30 am to 1:00 pm. Thats enuff driving for me for the day.
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
stormsurge said:
If you did'nt live so far i would say bring it by tomarrow afternoon. I make a run to wisconsin at 3:30 am to 1:00 pm. Thats enuff driving for me for the day.

LOL yeah that's a lot of driving! I'm pretty anxious to get it done before Saturday. I don't want to be driving with a bad water pump for to long....
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
jham said:
The hardest part of doing the water pump is getting the clutch fan off.

Well we have the tools to get the fan clutch off....We are going to attempt it tonight. Is there a how to on removing the fan.
 

jham

Member
Nov 20, 2011
1,334
Voymom said:
Well we have the tools to get the fan clutch off....We are going to attempt it tonight. Is there a how to on removing the fan.

I don't think there is one yet but I think I seen a thread about it with pictures a couple weeks ago
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
Well...30 minutes later and nothing lol This fan clutch bolt is being a PITA. Getting a pry bar from the landlord to see if it does any help.
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Don't use brute prying force. Use an impact. Hammering on the end of a huge crescent wrench with almost nothing holding the pulley worked for me. And I put it back on with anti-seize so it will never be a challenge again.
 

MAY03LT

Member
Nov 18, 2011
3,412
Delmarva
Voymom said:
Well...30 minutes later and nothing lol This fan clutch bolt is being a PITA. Getting a pry bar from the landlord to see if it does any help.

Look on youtube for replacing the water pump without the J-tool. The guy used a chain to hold the pulley. I don't do it that way but it does work in a pinch.
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
AHHHHHHHHH We changed the water pump, bad outside bearing. NOW we have a broken f-ing bolt in the engine block. I want to scream.

Make that 2 bolts broken in the engine block.....1 is flush the other is in there pretty good. I'm not happy. The second one broke when we were taking everything off to see if we could get the first broken bolt out.

UPDATE- Got the flush broken bolt out with a pair of tweezers and an itty bitty screw driver. Going to attempt the same method on the other one. I wont have access to an extractor until hubby's friend gets off work tomorrow. Wish me luck!
 

2003Red4x4

Member
Sep 18, 2012
6
So yesterday I posted a comment on Voymom's other thread about the wobbly fan / bad water pump bearing. I had the same problem.

I tackled this repair (water pump and fan clutch) this evening and finally got everything offl. Now I have a bolt that snapped off when I was putting my new water pump on and see this thread--- it looks like I am having the same experience. Obviously I must have over tightened.

I have a couple of questions if anyone has advice to offer:

1) Is the dealer the only place I can get these replacement bolts immediately?

2) Any general advice on pulling out this bolt? I think I used an extractor once in the but I don't have one any more.

This was the last bolt of the 5 on the water pump to be installed so I'll probably replace all of them in case any others were close to breaking
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
2003Red4x4 said:
So yesterday I posted a comment on Voymom's other thread about the wobbly fan / bad water pump bearing. I had the same problem.

I tackled this repair (water pump and fan clutch) this evening and finally got everything offl. Now I have a bolt that snapped off when I was putting my new water pump on and see this thread--- it looks like I am having the same experience. Obviously I must have over tightened.

I have a couple of questions if anyone has advice to offer:

1) Is the dealer the only place I can get these replacement bolts immediately?

2) Any general advice on pulling out this bolt? I think I used an extractor once in the but I don't have one any more.

This was the last bolt of the 5 on the water pump to be installed so I'll probably replace all of them in case any others were close to breaking

1). No we used any bolt as long as it was the correct size. Luckily we live near a place that manufactures them.

2). Easy out extractor! This moment right here was the most intense moment I have ever had with this truck. I lost sleep over it, cried over it, and wasn't very nice to the hubby over it lol. We were able to use a pair of tweezers to wiggle out a bolt that was broken flush to the engine block.

But we had to use an easy out extractor for the one that was pretty far in the block. I can't remember which bolts broke as it has been a while, but they were 2 bolts on the right side. When you replace the bolts you broke use anti seize on them, in fact use anti seize on ALL the bolts so this can be avoided next time.

Hope this helped. I haven't had coffee yet, so my answers probably don't make sense lol
 

CaptainXL

Member
Dec 4, 2011
2,445
Never done it but I have heard that left handed drill bits work as well. And if that fails use an extractor.
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
CaptainXL said:
Never done it but I have heard that left handed drill bits work as well. And if that fails use an extractor.

I would go for the extractor first honestly. Left handed drill bits have been known to break fairly easily. And if the drill bit breaks, you are then royally screwed. An extractor, from what I heard an researched when we broke 2 in the engine block will not work once a drill bit is broken in the bolt, and then the only other option are the diamond plated(not sure if that's the correct name)drill bits which are extremely hard to break. You break a diamond bit, and you might as well buy a new/used engine as having a shop or mechanic fix the problem can likely cost as much as a rebuilt engine would.

Just my opinion!
 

2003Red4x4

Member
Sep 18, 2012
6
Well I ended up getting the bolt out and reinstalling everything successfully.:wootwoot:

I ended up using the left handed drill bit. My plan was actually to use both left handed drill and the extractor. I drilled until I had enough of a hole to try the extractor but it couldn't quite get a good grip so I tried drilling a little more and out came the bolt.

I ended up replacing all 5 bolts just to be safe. Chevy dealer price was supposedly $6.26 each but they sold them to me for $4.62 each. I'm sure I could find a cheaper replacement somewhere but had a very small window to finish the repair or call in back up help $$. The part number was 11517521, description RU408DBOLT.
 

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