Water pump oil seal leak

[bikerking.biz]

Ok, I got the pump out, the new seal and o rings in, but now cannot get the pump to install back into the engine, it is binded. It appears to be started in square, but apparently that can't be the case. I can't get it in or out. This was not an easy job as some seem to believe. Although I've been working on bikes for years now, I'm about ready to give it up and let someone else sweat this stuff out. Does anyone have an idea on how to get a binded pump out of the engine? Not a good day so far.

[ekap1200]

Sometimes you just got to walk away for a while and get a fresh start the next day,

[bikerking.biz]

Exactly my plan.

[bikerking.biz]

Alright, got that dirty *&@&*@&)*)&_!&@)*!& installed.

Here's what I think the problem was:

You really need to get the water pipes out of the way of the pump, it has to be put straight in and gently- anything that gets in the way will give problems.
Also, I lubed all the o-rings before I installed the pump or water pipes into the pump. In retrospect, that I think was a mistake. When I pushed the pump in, I think the one side of the o-ring slipped out of the groove and binded. After finally getting the pump removed with a bearing puller jerry rigged, I dried all the o-rings off and re-installed in their positions. I oiled (instead of greased) the surfaces where the o-rings would be sliding on but not the o-rings. With the pipes out of the way, this time the pump went in with little problem other than getting the slot inside the engine to line up with the pump, but that wasn't a big problem. So far no leaks. I had both a coolant leak from a loose bolt on the one pipe at the water pump (back one) and the oil leak. I'll have to put some miles on to see if the oil leak was actually fixed.

One thing I didn't expect but found out when taking off the shift assy with the foot peg bracket, was that the bushing for the shift shaft that the shifting lever attaches to was extremely dry and had to be forced to turn. I couldn't tell this when it was hooked up before, but now the lever has a little free play. If anyones shift lever doesn't have a little free play when moving it, you might want to remove the assembly and clean that bushing and apply some grease. I'm looking forward to maybe some less clunky shifting occasionally from a slightly sticking shift action.

Thanks EKap for your suggestion! Did need a cool-down session and time to think what the problem might have been.