Has anyone ordered parts manufactured by Hardin marine before? In particular, anyone possibly try their water pump housing?

http://www.hardin-marine.com/p-15774...d-502-mag.aspx

So, long story short, had my impeller replaced as preventative maintenance and it wouldn’t prime and then at higher RPMs it wouldn’t suck enough water. Turns out the pump housing was grooved on both ends. After another new impeller, swapped the old one back in and it worked fine again. Now I need to replace the impeller and pump housing. Would have just ordered the part, but it’s on backorder until late July, so I started looking around and found this solution from Hardin. Interested in trying it, but don’t really want to be a guinea pig or anything and my mechanic has never used it. Thought I’d check on here and see if anyone had any personal experience with it?

Have purchased several items from Hardin. Always great service. I cannot comment on the pump you are referring to, but I just installed their all stainless pump just below the one you are referring to:
http://www.hardin-marine.com/p-14534...-assembly.aspx

It is working great! Also bought some switchable mufflers from them - also work great.

Looks like a slick unit. No more expensive than a stock replacement.

Just installed two on my 38Express Crusier with 2006 496 Mag HO's. You will need to pull the pulley from your existing pump and use the back end of the existing pump where the hoses connect. The basic pump assembly came with the "o" ring and an impeller. This kit is also nice in that it uses the "old common style" bravo 1 impeller that is available anywhere as opposed to the 496 style that is at least hard to find around where I live. I just order two new pulleys as my old ones were slightly corroded and didn't want to mess with removing them. They bolted right up to the existing back plat and the existing mounting assembly bracket. You will also have to pull the pulley onto the new shaft. HM suggests using a bolt to do that. I would suggest you use a hardened steel bolt as opposed to a stainless steel one so it doesn't spaul. Also, use pleanty of lubricant for the threads. They also come polished, so they really look good and don't need to be painted like the old ones. I thought they were a real deal, better product than merc and cheaper too. Good luck

Can't beat there drive showers and the price, installed a couple on the short bus

No personal experience with water pump but big thumbs up to Hardin Marine.

To be honest with you, the housing will usually encounter wear in a season of boating. You can purchase a kit from Napa for a 1 piece housing, they are mfg by Serria, at one point in time, they used the merc. housing due to a flaw in mfg. I recommended this due to Hardin, being on back-order. I also purchase from them.

Yep, bought two of the stainless housings to replace the stock merc plastic units. Jury is still out, I've been having priming issues which I suspect has something to do with the new impeller housings. I rebuild my seawater pumps as part of my annual maintenance (impelers, o-rings, wear plates, etc.), but still have some sort of an air leak in the system which results in the priming issue.

My suspicion is the small...tit (for lack of a better term) that is left on the inside, back side of the housing that was the attachment point during the machining process. The attachment point is cut off during finishing and Hardin supplies a wear plate with a slot cut in it which fits over the "tit" to from a flat surface, but it is not a 100% air tight seal.

Like I said, I've not confirmed that this is the issue, but if a few small grooves worn into a wear plate can cause the same sort of priming issue, then I would suspect that this might create a similar effect.

Just my .02.....

So they basically won't prime?

Yeah, when we pull the boat out, the system drains out, then when we drop it back in the pumps won't create enough suction to re-prime. Burned up 4 impellers (2 on each side) last season trying to troubleshoot. Finally got it primed and left the boat in the water....

There are no obvious water leaks in the system, but it's been explained to me that even the smallest air leak inside the system will result in a loss of vacuum. The merc units are notorious for wearing grooves in the end wear plates thereby creating a vacuum leak when new impellers are installed which is why the rebuild kits always provide new ones. IMHO, those Hardin units have an inherent weakness in that end where the machining attachment is cut and ground. Their tech offered to bench test my pumps (all I have to do is pull them both, box em, ship em, and wait however long to get em back...)

I'm thinking it might just jut be easier to go back to the stock set up which never caused me any trouble (except for the time I over torqued the bolts and cracked the plastic housing which is why I thought the stainless housings would be the shiznit...)

Wanna buy a set of Hardin stainless housings??? Ha Ha