Another great design by GM

Gary H NC · Nov 16, 2008

The water pump went out on my truck this morning!

Why in the he** did they design the pulley and fan clutch with that huge nut that needs to be taken off to get the dang fan clutch and pulley off?

The older GM engines was just take the 4 or 5 bolts off the fan and it all came apart.
I guess there is a special tool for this?

I took the easy way...pulled the cover off the back of the old pump and welded a piece of flat steel to it.Put it in the vise and used my giant Crescent wrench....off it came..

Wanted to go back with a AC Delco pump...Holy Crap! 189 bucks!
Ordered the same AC Delco pump from Rock Auto for 52 bucks shipped.
Local parts places had the usual made in China parts and the pumps were still around 50 bucks.

puddle jumper · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

An easy way to get that off is to use a air chisel and give it a zap.Do it all the time.

Gary H NC · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

I hear ya...My next investment is a bigger air compressor!!

xtraham · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

yes there is a special wrench for it but, depending on if it's left or right-hand thread, if you have a wrench big enough, all you need to do is with the belt still on, put pressure on the wrench (which ever way it needs to go to loosen) and smack straight down on the wrench with a hammer while holding pressure on the wrench, they will break loose in a crack or 3 with the hammer, do the same when you tighten it up

JB · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

Hmmmmm. I read the title of this thread and envisioned poetic praise of the styling of some "new" model.

I owe Gary an apology for ever suspecting him of caring more about styling than engineering. Sorry, Gary.

Gary H NC · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

LOL@ JB...

...

Yea,I tried the wrench with the belt still on and it would slip on the belt.
Arm was tired from the 5 pound hammer..

I will put a new belt on and a little thread locker blue on the nut when it goes back together.
Just waiting a couple days for the big brown truck to bring my parts..

Time for an oil change and chassis lube anyway.
At least the front end still has all the grease fittings,even the ball joints.
So i guess i will forgive GM for the water pump design.

xtraham · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

the trick is hitting straight down on the end of the wrench, seams strange but it works, there's no need for locktite because the rotation of the engine will keep it tight and you might have to remove it again someday.

fishrdan · Nov 16, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

I haven't done a GM, but my Dodge has the same thing. I just put a big old pipe wrench on it and give it a sharp whack with a hammer, breaks the nut free and it spins off easily.

I agree no lock-tite needed.

Gary H NC · Nov 17, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

Thanks for the tips on the Loctite.
I was trying to think about that...the threads on the nut were standard not reversed...I was looking at it the wrong way as far as the motor direction keeping it tight.
My neighbor said it should be reversed threads...we were thinking backwards..lol!

rogerwa · Nov 20, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

I did a field repair (at my cabin) on my suburban with the 5.3 and I just pulled the waterpump off with the fan still attached and then used a vice grip to hold the pulley while using the pipe wrench on the nut.

As i recall it was not all the hard to get it out with the fan on it. The plastic came off easily and made it very open.

Gary H NC · Nov 21, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

Got the new pump on yesterday. Ordered it from Rock Auto, AC Delco new not rebuilt for 44 bucks.The exact same one GM wanted 189 for...

Perfect fit,looked exactly like the old one.
Autozone wanted 50 some bucks for their "value" part plus a core charge.

Shows how much mark up there is on these parts!

our member QC turned me on to Rock Auto...great prices and fast shipping.
Ordered it Monday and it arrived Wed. afternoon.

They also sell the surface gap plugs for my outboard that Napa wants 6 bucks each for.I think Rock Auto was under 2 bucks each..

WHO IS SPAMMING MY THREAD??^^^^^ Bass Turds!

wildmaninal · Nov 21, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

Gary H NC said:
Shows how much mark up there is on these parts!

The scarry part is some of these autopart dealers can charge you whatever price they want to charge.

Example: One store that we use to deal with..... The owner told us that "he had 3 prices he could charge us just on that one part" which we was needing. Hopefully he charged us the lowest price. I can't believe the man just came out and told us that.

fishrdan · Nov 22, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

wildmaninal said:
The owner told us that "he had 3 prices he could charge us just on that one part" which we was needing.

That's just the nature of the beast. An auto parts store has many pricing levels, full retail, price for walk-in customers, auto shops, auto shops that stock their parts, etc... If you have a relation ship with the parts guy, you will pay a whole lot less than a new customer walking in the doors,,, but you have to know the right people

I like rockauto also, high quality parts at very good prices. The only problem I see is warrantying parts. Sure, they have a warranty on their parts, but it's not as easy as removing the part, driving to the local parts store and getting your warrantied part 10 minutes later... But,,, if you're paying 1/3 of what is being charged locally I guess it's a no-brainer

Gary H NC · Nov 22, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

I figured i saved 140 bucks on the part. It was worth the couple day wait.
The only bad thing is like you say,if i need to return a part it will take days to get a replacement rather than going to the local store..
Just depends on what i need and how fast i need it...

Whoever removed the Spammers post in this thread, THANKYOU!

Nandy · Nov 23, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

Your pump sounds similar to my blazer pump. What I did in mine was to use a 1/8 thick by 1/2 inch wide by 3 feet long steel "bar" to keep the pump pulley from moving. I "jammed" it between one of the 4 pulley bolts and the big nut you are talking about. That allowed me to remove one bolt. Once I remove that bolt I made a hole in that same bar to the width of the pulley bolt. I put the bolt back with the bar attached to it and using that I had level to loose the big nut with a few taps. Once the fan/cluth was out it was easier to loosen up the remaining of the pulley bolts. I have replaced that pump twice, it had worked great both times.

Gary H NC · Nov 25, 2008

Re: Another great design by GM

Thanks Nandy,Good tip.
Hopefully this one will last another 100k....

Another great design by GM

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