Hardin Marine stainless steel replacement for Merc seawater pump

Dream_Inn

Well, after buying the build kit and it shipped yesterday, I pulled the pump last night and "tried" to pull the pulley.  I had the correct puller, but it actually busted the ring that the puller pulls to get the pulley off.  That was a waste of 2 hours!  Oh, and the $100 for the kit.  I'll take the plates and impeller out of the kit, but @LaRea, looks like you will get the bearings and seals.

So, I am too anxious to wait until 6/16 to see if the pump is in stock and then up to a week after that to get it.  So, I bought the same version pump that I currently have (crappy Hardin one) with a nice aluminum pulley.  It is on ebay and is remanufactured with all new guts.  Not exactly what I wanted for sure (& was still $400), but I will have it in a week and the boat will be running.  It will then give me time to think about the next time around, cause my other pump is the same hardin and is 2 years old.  So, if it's like this one, I'll have two more years (which is really bad).  

YYZRC

This thread makes me disappointed in Hardin’s product. I thought their pumps were supposed to be better than the originals?

Grahamu

Curious how many hours were on that pump ?

LaRea

Eight years ago, the concept was that Hardin's pump would be a "forever" pump.  Unlike the OEM pump, which gets trashed when there's too much wear, Hardin's pump has replaceable wear plates.   

Now that they've had thousands of pumps in service for up to eight years, what we're seeing is that the bearings fail after 150-250 hours.  The pump is still a forever pump, but now we know the service life of the bearings.  

Hardin's newer "Plus" pump was redesigned with much bigger bearings that should last much longer.  

LaRea

I installed two Hardin pumps in 2013.  Since then, I have had four bearing failures.  The bearings have lasted an average of 2.7 years and 185 hours.  

The actual lifespans were 182, 133, 319, 105 hours.  The ones currently in the boat have 100 and 201 hours, so they might potentially fail this season.  

Out of the four failures, I did two rebuilds.  I also ended up buying new pumps because of various life circumstances (house fire, etc.).  So now I have two backup pumps with failed bearings, and I need to rebuild them.  

davidbrooks

That reminds me.  On the Hardin pumps the impeller is a bit larger than OEM.  Do you still replace the impellers annually or get longer life out of them?  Mine are going on two years but i didn't have a whole lot of use.

Dream_Inn

davidbrooks said:

That reminds me.  On the Hardin pumps the impeller is a bit larger than OEM.  Do you still replace the impellers annually or get longer life out of them?  Mine are going on two years but i didn't have a whole lot of use.

Still replace them every two years.  The shaft is also bigger as well.  I'm not sure the overall impeller is really much different in overall size though.  I get in the practice of changing them every other spring, before starting those motors.  You take a huge chance if it's been two years (after that 2nd winter) starting it up on the old impellers.

Dream_Inn

So, I got my pump yesterday to my surprise!  Installed and all good!

LaRea

Anybody who has the "original recipe" Gen 7 pump:  if you want to rebuild a pump, buy or borrow a hydraulic press.  Even the world's crappiest Chinese 6-ton press will turn it into an easy job.  

reneechris14

Don't forget the idler pulley above the pump when it get wet it tends to go. 

LaRea

Here's an offer for any member with at least 50 posts on the forum: 

If you have a Hardin Gen 7 sea pump that is leaking and needs a rebuild, I'll install the new bearings for you at no charge.  You buy the rebuild kit, and pay shipping to/from my home in Virginia.  

PM me.  

aero3113

Well…… After only 60.5 hours, my port engine Hardin Gen 7 Plus water pump is leaking at the weep-hole. Has anyone had any luck with customer service? I’m going to call them in a little bit. Statically it has a steady drip, with the engine running it drips pretty quickly. Very disappointed!! 

skennelly

That's terrible.

LaRea

Wait -- that's the new version with bigger bearings?  Bummer - see if they will replace it.  I had an early-model pump fail at 100 hours, but never 60.  

FWIW, today they replied to a reply to an email I sent them 9 days ago.  Call them.  

aero3113

I just got off the phone with them. They want me to send them the pump. They will inspect and replace what needs to be changed at no charge except for my shipping. I asked if I can buy a new one to replace it with then I will send the old one for repair and not loose any boating, she said there are no new units available and won’t be for about a month. She said once they receive it, turn time will be very quick. She gave me a RA# that’s good for 30 days. Again very disappointed!!

Dream_Inn

oh boy, I thought the new ones would be better.  I just replaced mine with the newer style.  At least very soon ( @LaRea ) I'll have a working spare if I need to do a swap out!

That is really a bummer!!  At least they are going to fix it.  Note, buy a new one for a spare

aero3113

@Dream_Inn , I will once they become available again. 

Hopefully this is just a fluke and my starboard and rebuilt one will be good for years! 

When I remove the port side, I’ll look over the starboard side really well to make sure that one doesn’t have to be sent back also! 

LaRea

  I have two rebuilt spares.  I just rebuilt a spare for @Dream_Inn, and I'm rebuilding another for a friend of his.  Welcome to LaRea's Pump Rebuild Service, can I help you?

reneechris14

@aero3113 have the old style if it would help

aero3113

reneechris14 said:

@aero3113 have the old style if it would help

Appreciate it @reneechris14 , I think I’ll be okay though. If I get it removed this weekend I can send it out. If it’s late returning, I don’t think we’ll be using the boat the following weekend, that Sunday is my daughters christening and I’m sure we will be getting the house ready for the party.

Ian

 I still have the originals and apart from wear plates going in - port before I got the boat 8 years ago and starboard 2 years ago with impellers - no issues, flow and temps are great. You guys with your fancy SS bling…. 

aero3113

I took a pic earlier so I can see where the drip was coming from. When I did, I swapped the camera on my phone by accident! Just saw what I captured. LoL!!

YYZRC

You guys are really nice. Coming from someone in the automotive industry, I wish all customers were as patient and understanding. 

Liberty44140

It is crazy how the world has evolved from the customer is always right to the customer should just be happy to be getting anything out of us at all lol

Black_Diamond

I had one go out, they rebuilt it for N/C.  I carried a spare afterwards, being on Lk Mich I could be a long ways from port.  lol. 

Frankly, the raw water pump base design is bad (even OEM). That large overhung load from the belt and poor bearing separation distance puts a huge moment load on the bearings. Just a matter of time before they fail.  Poor L10 life. 

LaRea

@Black_Diamond I never thought of it that way.  Still, I think the weak point is the inner seal.  Once the inner seal fails and lets seawater get to the bearings ... well, that train has sailed. 

rasbury

So...the fancy SS pumps ya'll been bragging about for years....I still have the original pump, 300 hours or close on the boat. I have replaced the impeller wear plates a couple of times...FL sand is tuff.. no bearings replaced to-date anyway...

Ian

Exactly. 700 on mine.

aero3113

Alswagg said:

A much better designed pump is a “Johnson” brand crank driven pump.   Very very similar to what Volvo uses but better 

I found out about them a couple of months after I bought the Hardin pumps. I wish I had those. So much easier to replace the impellers when needed!

YYZRC

Agreed @rasbury - I’m glad I sat this one out. My old boat had one badly scored housing and it performed the same as the other pump which had the newer housing with wear plate.