Took me 3 hours to fix a pump seal that should have been 20 minutes

Was working on a job out near the river last week and my dredge pump started leaking. Thought it was a simple o-ring swap but the housing had some grit built up behind the seal I couldn't even see. Ended up pulling the whole assembly apart, cleaning everything, and putting it back together three times before it held pressure. Has anyone else run into hidden grit causing seal failures like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy4391mo ago

Gotta ask - did you check the pump housing for micro-cracks while you had it apart? Grit sometimes gets in through hairline fractures you'd never spot until you pressure test it. Could save you another three-hour redo next time.

skylerc861mo ago

I wonder if the issue isn't just grit but maybe vibration fatigue, a little crack you'd never see without a dye test.