Im at a loss and need some advice on my pump!

[Jason in Enid]

I'm at a loss and need some advice on my pump!

My Keene P-180 pump doesn't work on my Honda GX200 motor!

This should have been the easiest part of of building my son's dredge, hence it was left for the last minute and now I'm screwed. I have a brand new Gx200 motor with the correct threaded shaft (I think). I had an old B&S motor that died, and this P-180 pump came off it. Other than being yellow, it look identical to my new P-180 pump mounted on the Honda motor of my Keene 4". The yellow pump mounts just fine. The impeller spins onto the motor shaft Just fine. But when I pull the start cord, the impeller tightens down against the back plate! It took me an hour of swearing and beating to get the thing free! It also broke the ceramic impeller seal from tightening down so much.

Has anybody had this problem before? Anybody know the cause and how to solve it? The test run of the new 3-inch O/U is postponed until I get this figured out. In the mean time we are taking the 4" out for the final run of the year. Sorry, I won't be back to answer further questions until Tuesday.

 

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[winners58]

it needs a shaft sleeve to keep the impeller at the right distance. (bushing?)
I had the same problem there wasn't one on the old motor, then the sleeve I ordered was for without pulley
instead of sending it back I just cut it to fit with a hacksaw.
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this is what the one with the pulley looks like;
Keene Engineering Online 5 HP Compressor Drive Kit

(may be able to find something local that would work?)

Might look at the pulley as Keene fit the bushing pressed through the pulley on some,
I didn't on mine I just used a new pulley that fit the shaft then had to make the bushing fit.

 

[Hoser John]

I have a set of old school shaft sleeves as almost all the old school keene pumps-no hose bib-require them. You'll need a file to adjust it to your shaft spacing OR buy a pulley attachment which will space. Does the pump have the ol'school paper gasket for the 2 halves of the pump yellow housing? Another give away. You put your finger in the footvalve hole to feel for a fit flush with the intake,file a bit reassemble, feel ,file, feel, file till the gap between the impeller and the housing is gone. Otherwise you just get blowby and around and around the water goes as both psi/gpm suffer greatly. Make sure the footvalve plastic intake is in place(all the way in or distance changes and leaks) and sealed with some GE door/window seal as uv protected and ez to remove as stays pliable.-John

 

[Jason in Enid]

Thanks for the info! I hadn't noticed the shaft bushing on my factory motor. No pulley on this shaft, but my factory motor has one so that may be why I didn't notice the spacer part of it. My next step was going to be to disassemble the good pump and break out the calipers, so you two have saved me a lot of work.

The old pump has the rubber O-ring and the plastic hose bib. I'll just go ahead and order a new hose bib too so I can make sure I have the closest spacing. I appreciate the help, I hate feeling like a total newbie on things like this.

The good news was that the dredging weekend was a success! I have 5 gallons of black sand cons to work. I did a couple quick and dirty test pans of the cons from the cleanout and it was LOOOAAADDDED with fines and flakes. I know of several bullets and sinkers I sucked up that were buried in the cons, so I am still holding out hope for a few pickers!

 

[Hoser John]

Everyone starts somewhere, just thank god you can still dredge. Hope ya find a few-John

 

[Jason in Enid]

I'm at a loss for words right now. This is just weird. I was pulling a few things for this dredge project out of a milk crate. These have been sitting untouched since last year (when I first started the project). There on the bottom of the crate was a brand new shaft sleeve. I don't know where it came from because I have never ordered one (nor even knew one existed). Yesterday I had just ordered the parts to rebuild my pump (sleeve, seal and hose bib), and today I find this. It's a shame I didn't know about it a couple weeks ago! I guess I'll have a spare for the future.

 

[Trooper733]

I didn't know you were into dredging until I read a couple of your recent threads. Are you still in state doing this or out of state somewhere? Not looking for specifics, just curious if you were still around these parts.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I didn't know you were into dredging until I read a couple of your recent threads. Are you still in state doing this or out of state somewhere? Not looking for specifics, just curious if you were still around these parts.

Both here in OK and in CO. I am chasing a lost silver mine here in OK. I have found some placer wire silver and looking for the source. I had planned on doing a lot of exploration this year, but the massive spring rains and reservoir releases kept the river up until about a week ago.

 

[okbasspro]

Jason have seen the Oklahoma geology map at LANDMATTERS

 

[Trooper733]

That is awesome that you are finding some in state. Ill be watching for updates. Good luck!