Taco Seals

will smith_4

Gents and Ladies-
Gonna be changing the seals on a 40 h.p. pump tomorrow, and to be honest, Taco ain't my normal pump. I know mechanical seals are mechanical seals, but are there any tips you might give me to make the day go by a little better? Any help is appreciated!

Josh_10

40 horse? Is it a split case, horizontal end suction, or other? Do you have the model #? I can help but need more info.

Chris_82

which model?

About the worst that can happen is when you pull it apart you haven't bothered to get a new gasket, it, for the majority of Taco products is a seperate item that any mech seal kit. Other than that depending upon rust you might want to bring a drill and some easy outs, or helicoil setups if you break a stud. The mecanical seals will be self explanitory when you split the case, if they literally fall out or if the pump has been making noise make sure you check the housing for obvious scarring, but always be prepared to replace the whole thing because if the wear has caused the seal to spin or go out of round when you put it back toghther, well now your name is on it. Why are you replacing this anyways? They are generally trouble free? How old is it? That is the question? On some larger models get all the wear kits and gaskets, need to know which model...you can check out the Taco website and do a serch or call the 1 800 number they are usually very good on the phone.

powerhead

Pump Seals

powerhead

Pump Seal

I've done a few 40 hp end suction pumps, but not Taco so I don't know if this helps but here are some of my thoughts:

The seals will be the easy part. Taking apart the piping, suction strainer, flex connectors, etc can be time consuming and for a 40 hp pump and pipe, heavy. Get help.

I use a small chainfall to help pull every thing apart.
You may as well spring for a new set of bearings and a new coupling once you have it all apart.
You probabally will need a large puller with various attatchments to get the impeller and bearings off of the shaft.

I make pullers and helper tools out of deep unistrut and threaded rod, strut plates and angles, nuts, bolts.

I usually make my own gaskets with gasket paper and a ballpeen hammer.

The motor, coupling and pump will all have to be reshimmed and adjusted to spec, you'll need calipers, feeler gauges, straight edges or maybe dial indicators or lasers to line everything back up. If you try to do this "by eye" or "by feel" then you will be back to replace couplings frequently.

They never give you enough lube with the seal kit, I've used dish soap, "gasket butter" that sprinkler fitters use on victaulic fittings, silicone grease. What I liked best is a small bottle of liquid leak detector with a dauber.

Clean the shaft good with plumbers sand cloth and then maybe steelwool. Carefully doing this while the motor is running and pump shaft is spinning is a big help.

Putting on a good coat of spray paint when done makes a nice looking job.

The 40 hp pumps that I've done this way have taken me a few days to rebuild but have been trouble free for a few years now.

Good luck,
powerhead

will smith_4

Thanks-

-For the input guys. Ended up being fairly easy, they were a bit heavy, but not too bad. Impellers came off with some gentle tapping with wood shims, and the brass inserts came off like a charm with just a little bit of heat. Got two done in about 4 hrs total.
Thanks again-