Slight Vibration

jherve1 · 09-24-2009, 06:11 PM

Was out today and noticed a small vibration when i accelerate.no change in pick up or top end speed..but a small vibration in back of ski..I am not sure if its something that i just didnt notice before. The last time out my wife beached ski on a sandbar at about 20mph but i didnt notice any probs then. Ski is 2008 vx deluxe with 50.1 hrs on it,

waterhog13@seahag.com · 09-24-2009, 08:21 PM

Check jet pump inlet for something fairly small wrapped around the shaft or stuck in the impeller...

Do this inspection first - rule out anything caught in there.

jet ski man · 09-24-2009, 09:21 PM

Check your impeller and wear ring for damage,nick"s, bent,scrape"s,doesn"t take much to make them vibrate.
JSM.

jherve1 · 09-25-2009, 12:18 AM

whats a good way to look for damage..thanks!

dudenstumpy · 09-25-2009, 03:30 AM

Using a large flashlight will let you see ( through the intake grate space after removing the grate, a 5 minute job ) the shaft and one of the 3 impeller blades. If that blade is damaged you will see that.

To inspect the 2 other blades you can either spin the engine a few times in the hope that blades 2 and 3 will appear in sight ( once you stop engine ), having put a mark with marker pen on blade nmber one.

or you remove the whole pump unit/shaft from the rear of ski. This also then lets you check your wear ring for damage etc., and you could file any small damage to outside edges of blades. or replace the impeller.

I recently had vibration due to a plastic bag being wrapped around my shaft.

waterhog13@seahag.com · 09-25-2009, 11:13 AM

Yeah, when he said Slight vibration I figured it probably is something small wrapped around the shaft. Could even be a piece of rope....

Remove grate and look inside with flashlight very closely ... If you don't find anything stuck in there. The beaching at speed could have bent something expensive... Maybe !

She could have hit it harder than you thought....

jherve1 · 09-26-2009, 02:02 AM

thanks for the replies and help..will check it out on monday and check back in!!

jherve1 · 09-27-2009, 03:09 PM

Thanks for the replies and help..took off grate and found a big blue ribbon and a wad of fishing line wrapped up in the shaft..hopefully that is probably what the problem was.. will test ride this week.

waterhog13@seahag.com · 09-27-2009, 03:29 PM

Thats your problem ! This should clear all vibration issues.... Try to steer clear of wads of loose grass, trash, aluminum cans, plastics bottles, etc. And yes even fishing line is the worst and can cause all kinds of problems even more so with boat motors...
If you think your running across some bad $hit hit the kill switch... At least you run a chance you can coast thru it without pulling it up into the water intake.

But again timing is the key... You may not have time to do this, or even see it coming.

Other people riding your ski can be another way for things to get screwed up in a hurry...
Teach them to ride with responsibility for your ski ... If not take the lanyard away...

Simple as that...

pbrstreetgang · 09-28-2009, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waterhog13@seahag.com

If you think your running across some bad $hit hit the kill switch... At least you run a chance you can coast thru it without pulling it up into the water intake.

Simple as that...

I'm pretty careful where I'm underway but I still end up with junk in the grate and tangled up in the impeller sometimes. Using the "kill switch" method has cut down somewhat but its gotten so bad that I've made it part of my trailer pretrip everytime I'm planning to head out.

I have a set of those cheap metal ramps that I use to change the oil in my vehicles. When the trailer is hooked to my truck I pull it up on the ramps and check for debris. I can yank the grate if I have to. [of course the grate bolts are neversiezed] Theres plenty of room under there once I'm up on the ramps