Vibration on right side

[Chumash]

I finally got my boat out after a 3 year layoff from boating. I have a 2008 ar230 ho, and changed the oil, plugs and water / fuel separator filters. Lubed the bearings and drained the old fuel. I also installed Cobra Venom fins.The boat ran great, pulling a tube and wakeboarders. On the second day, I sucked up a rope in the right pump, but was easily cleared through the clean out plug. On the third day, after a full day on the lake, as I was heading in to the dock, I had a vibration on the right side when accelerating past 4-5K rpm. The vibration got worse the higher the rpm. I was able to get back in easy enough at low rpm. I pulled the boat out of the water, and when revving up to clear water from the exhauSt, there was no vibration. The reverse gates seem to be working properly, and the fins are working correctly. I am assuming that this is something in the pump area, and am planning on pulling the pump and inspecting it.

What would I be looking for besides obvious defects or damage? Could this be caused by a bad bearing, and if so how do you determine it is bad? Any other ideas would be welcome. I am hoping it is just a piece of rope stuck somewhere it doesn't belong. But as the boat ran fine after the rope incident, that may be just wishful thinking. Thanks for any help.

Ted

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

When you sucked the rope in the pump several things could happen.
You destroyed the intake tunnel and now taqking on water " not too common thankfully", or you did not remove every small fragment of the rope and a small piece is stuck hidden between the impeller blades," this may be your situation", or you damage the driveshaft, " again not real common but I have seen a drive shaft snap",
Or you damage the drive shaft bearing " again not too common" or the rope was tangled on the reverse hood and you knocked it out of it's proper location so that it now hangs down slightly in the flow of water when you are on plane, easy to check with the boat on a trailer and the reverse hoods up in the forward position, they need to completely clear the water exit at the back of the nozzle so they do not interfere with the flow of the jet water exiting the pump.
Or you knocked a clean out plug out of it's proper position and you need to remove it and reinstall it correctly , note if you have my EZ locks you will know the plug was moved as soon as you try to remove the lock as it will be tight from the pressure on it and you will need to knock the T handle back down where it is supposed to be in order to release the lock and remove the cleanout plug. If you removed the rope via the cleanout plug and you reinstalled it properly you can forget this situation.
The other thing that may have happened is you possibly damaged or loosened the intake grate and this my be interfering with the flow of water to the pump.
So you now have a few things to check. I doubt you harmed the bearings in your pump but it is a possibility however slight.

 

[itsdgm]

Sounds like you sucked up something. Have you checked the shaft and impeller since pulling the boat out of the water?

 

[Chumash]

Thanks for the replies and information. I only had time to check the reverse gates on the trailer, and they are in the proper place. My daughter and son-in-law are towing the boat back and I will get it on Sunday and look at all those things mentioned. I am hoping it is something easy to fix. If something were sucked up, would it still vibrate out of the water, or only in the water?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Only in the water in use.

 

[Chumash]

I sucked up a 2" piece of flat wood, and it is between the impeller and liner nearest the intake. It should be an easy fix. Amazing what can be sucked up in the middle of a clean looking lake.

 

[CaliJetBoater75]

I had the same situation. Could feel the vibration (also on starboard side) but couldn't find anything in the clean out plugs. Once on the trailer using a flash light in the intake and the clean out plugs I found a tiny piece of wood wedged on the outside of the impeller. All good now. Glad to hear you got yours straightened out!

 

[Nakk]

I had the same situation. Could feel the vibration (also on starboard side) but couldn't find anything in the clean out plugs. Once on the trailer using a flash light in the intake and the clean out plugs I found a tiny piece of wood wedged on the outside of the impeller. All good now. Glad to hear you got yours straightened out!

I had the exact same thing today! This post save me a trip to the dealer! I used an inspection camera to find the itty bitty piece of wood. Easy to knock out once I knew it was there.

 

[scotta50]

If you can't clean out from ports or the grate side, you can pull the pump. Looks intimidating but I did it in under an hour -found a stick removed it and resembled. Take off reverse gate line; take off steering linkage; take off 4 long bolts pull impeller out. If it is stubborn there is a tab top and bottom sticking out with a matching tab on the inside piece .. insert a flat head screwdriver between them and tap it in, then repeat tap opposite side; outer pump housing will separate and impeller can be inspected.