Reply With Quotecall Steve at Panther 541-836-7641, he'll be more than happy to help. My suggestion would be to let them do your rebuild, it's not that expensive. $1195. for machining in an aluminum/bronze sleeve, tightening up the clearances and blueprinting.....
I need to rebuild my Panther jet and would like to machine the impeller OD and housing ID to the stock dimensions. What are the stock dimensions of the impeller outer diameter? Also what is the stock dimension for the housing inner diameter (wear ring)? Lastly has anyone sleeved their housing inner diameter? If so can you give me some details about the modification, sleeve material, epoxy used if any, and what diameter did you cut the housing to receive the sleeve?
If you have one of the Panther manuals can you review it to see if there is any info regarding the above questions. Thanks
call Steve at Panther 541-836-7641, he'll be more than happy to help. My suggestion would be to let them do your rebuild, it's not that expensive. $1195. for machining in an aluminum/bronze sleeve, tightening up the clearances and blueprinting.....
Cas,
I called Steve last year and he was reluctant to tell me the tolerances. Bottom line I have access to a machine shop so this job could be done for the cost of material only. But I really need some base line tolerances to work with. My unit is in sad shape and has already been modified so Im not sure what I have to start with. If anyone has a clean or recently rebuilt Panther Jet along with some calipers could you measure what you have and let me know. Thanks
Originally posted by Tahiti:
Cas,
I called Steve last year and he was reluctant to tell me the tolerances. Bottom line I have access to a machine shop so this job could be done for the cost of material only. But I really need some base line tolerances to work with. My unit is in sad shape and has already been modified so Im not sure what I have to start with. If anyone has a clean or recently rebuilt Panther Jet along with some calipers could you measure what you have and let me know. Thanks
Tahiti,
I think Cas is part right. But rather than ask Steve for the tolerances, ask him if they are in the manual. I used to have the owners manual, but gave it to the gentleman who bought my the boat the panther was in. If the tolerances are in the manual, I think its about $30 and then you can machine your own pump back to spec. The other thing you could do is call Andy Dominguez at 310-549-3203 and see what he can do to help. I have never had Andy do any work on my pump, but had spoken to him regarding a couple issues back when I had a panther. He struck me as professional and capable so maybe he could help you out.
Hope that helps,
Chris www.liquidaddiction.net (http://www.liquidaddiction.net)
I just spent almost an hour on the phone with Steve at Panther, great guy. He is also now available on the Banderlog Discussion Forums for answering questions that anyone may have. http://www.banderlog.com/cgi-bin/ban...um/dcboard.cgi
We spoke about the good and the bad I've heard from many of you and others. He mentioned how many emails and phone calls he gets from people that had the wrong things done to a Panther and want to bring them back to stock. Sounds like exactly what you're talking about.
btw, I have the manual and it doesn't give the diameters but it does give the clearances.
Here's a couple exerpts:
The axial fit between the impeller and the stator housing is controlled by shimming spacers ahead of the impeller. The gap is measured by laying a straight egde across the rear face of the pump housing, using a feeler gauge to measure the gap between the straight edge and the impeller. The gap should be between .020 and .030.
The radial fit between the stator rings and the impeller hub allows for a gap of .015. This fit is best measured by measuring the diameter of the impeller hub and the diameter of the stator rings and subtracting.
flat broke,
Tell me more about Andy Dominguez ie; company name, location and do they do sleeve jobs?
Cas,
Thanks for the gap info, that will help, however I still need those diameters. My housing ID has been tampered with and currently has some epoxy, bondo, jb weld, ah who knows lining the ID of the housing. The other problem is that it appears that some one took a file to the impeller OD edges (making razor edges). I hope I can get some beeds welded to the impeller edges to extend to the original OD. Assuming my guy can weld a beed to the 17-4PH SS I will then machine it back to the original diameter.
Tahiti:
"Assuming my guy can weld a beed to the 17-4PH SS I will then machine it back to the original diameter."
Be advised that the PH on the end of 17-4 stands for precipitation hardening. This means heat treatment, of which there are numerous types for PH alloy materials, depending upon the material properties desired. Putting a TIG torch to any PH-material locally anneals the material, losing whatever heat treated properties existed.
Tahiti,
It seems to me you need to purchase the Tech Manual so you can read the info before you do any alterations.
When I pulled my pump apart, I found all the clearances to be within the factory specs...not bad for a 24 year old pump. Anyway, I found the leading edges of the impeller to be a little dull so at the advice of panther, I filed them to a sharper edge so it will cut up the debris that may enter to pump.
If you want to check the blades for any bends, take a piece of cardboard and cut it to the contour of one of the blades. If any are bent, the cardboard template won't fit each one the same. If you need to straighten any of them out, heat that particular blade to a "yellow hot."
Differences of up to about 1/8" are tolerable, any more than that will hamper the performance.
All the stock impellers are balanced to less than 1/10 of an ounce inch. Any impeller repairs that change the balance over that tolerance may lead to premature bearing and rear bushing failure. If you're going to have someone do some welding on it, I'm sure you will need to get it rebalanced.
As far as the housing goes, the normal repair for any gouges that might be incurred is the use of a filler. Personally, I used a 2 part filler by the Huntington Co. in Redwood City CA. I found it to be a great filler.
If you took the aforementioned measurements, you should be able to figure out if what you have is within factory specs. You will also be able to tell if you can use shims to get it within the specs.
I know I might be typing all this for nothing since I have never seen your pump. I am, however, a firm believer in not spending any money that doesn't need to be spent. Also, I hate when I spend money on something then have to spend more money to correct an error.
Originally posted by Tahiti:
flat broke,
Tell me more about Andy Dominguez ie; company name, location and do they do sleeve jobs?
I beleive Andy is down in Wilmington (southern CA). I talked to him about a year and a half ago after being refered to him by Jack at MPD. When I talked to him, he mentioned that he did have the ability to sleeve the Panther and seemed very knowledgeable. You might be able to give him a call and get the dimensions out of him.
I hope that helps,
Chris
I'll agree with Chris about Andy. I spoke with him for quite awhile last year myself and he does sound pretty knowledgable on Panthers.
I'd really consider sending at least your impeller to have it checked out by someone that has a lot of experience with Panthers.
Good luck!
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