Water Pump Puller

Contributed by Harry Davies

The attached images (just 'click' for a larger image) show a step by step sequence of the puller that was able to remove the water pump easily.

Notes: I used a modified 3 jaw small puller from Harbor freight to grab the impeller. With the 10MM circlip removed and a little heat, the impeller came off.

Here are all the puller compoents: two 3/4 iron pipe end caps, a 2 inch threaded 3/4 inch iron nipple, a carriage bolt (or threaded rod), a 10mm shaft collar with a setscrew, a spacer tube of about 4 inch length and a 10mm snap ring.

After the large 40MM water pump retaining clip is off, then follow the images. The first 3/4" iron pipe end cap has a side hole in it to access the set screw of the 10MM shaft collar. In this case, I positioned the set screw over the key way slit after the key way was removed. The setscrew was tightened up AFTER resting on a new S/S circlip (second photo below).

The bottom end cap has a square hole to capture a carriage bolt (second photo above). The square hole that the carriage bolt fits prevents the puller bolt from rotating in the end cap. (I did not have one with full threads, so in the end I used regular threaded rod). The 2" nipple is then hand tightened in place.

As you can see, the black pipe (scrap that I had that could be replaced with thick PVC pipe) is slid over the assembly and contacts the surface of the engine. It must be a large enough inside diameter for the pump shaft with the iron caps to clear, and must also be large enough in diameter to rest comfortably on the underside of the crankcase. After all items are hand snug in place, and maybe some pre-heat from a heat lamp, the bottom of the threaded rod is held with ViceGrip pliers to prevent rotating while the puller nut is tightened.

This process removed my pump. The first few turns resulted in a few "pops" as the pump broke free.

On newer shafts with no key way slot, the shaft collar may need to be a one or 2 piece clamp version to prevent shaft marring with the set screw.

In severe cases, I guess a small grinder could be used to slightly indent the shaft for a set screw to sink on if the clamp collar and the S/S circlip will not hold (along with the Circlip) Doing so will still allow the shaft to be OK for re-use.

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