These new water jacket o-rings are too big!!! What the....????

[jlanders001]

I searched for suggestions to this problem and could not find a thing but that actually makes sense because this an odd problem....

Over the past few years I've installed plenty of water jackets on boat motors and as you all know its not a very difficult thing to do. However while sliding a new leopard water jacket on to some brand new 4092s the O-rings shredded when forced onto the motor. These particular O-rings seem to be too large (cross section wise) and seem to be a bit too large in diameter. OR the water jacket is a tiny little bit too small in diameter. The o-rings easily slide over the motor by themselves, but when you stuff them into the jacket grooves (And that is a real trick to do as well) they shred every time.

I've tried lots of oil and even tried marine grease bit they still tear up when they are forced on. It takes a whole lot of pushing for that to even happen. I bought a bag of new O-rings for this motor from OSE and still...shredded. The front CNC cover of the 4092 has small screw wells so the screws will be flush. These little wells have some pretty sharp corners so I dulled them down with a dremel tool and a sanding drum and the O-rings STILL tear up.

I'm out of ideas. AAAHHH!!!! If I can't find a better solution, could I just use them (all messed up) then seal all the way around with silicone? How would silicone stand up to that kind of potential heat? Is there another sealant out there that would work besides something super permanent like JB Weld?

Do you guys know of any other tricks that would work in this situation? Anyone had this problem before? Would another brand of water jacket or o-ring fit better than a leopard water jacket?

[h2o 1]

What size are the o'rings you have? The Leopard cooling jackets use the 2mm o'rings.Also on the Leopard motors or most motors i use for that fact i remove the screws from the endbell and slide the jacket on from the rear. Only oil the can,DO NOT OIL the o'rings,it only complicates things

[jlanders001]

The ones that came with it as well as the replacements from OSE all are red 2mm x 40mm Leopard brand O-rings that are made for this 40mm motor. That's what makes it so unbelievable. How do you slide them on from the end bell - the wires come out of the side of the can so that seems impossible. You must have the type where the wires are directly on the endbell, correct?

[h2o 1]

Correct, out the endbell. Silicone will work, the heat shouldn't be a problem.I've seen several guys on here use it with no problems

[tlandauer]

I have been there several times, in fact my very first experience was like yours although it was with an Aqua Craft 1800kv with their "gold" jacket. I used silicone sealant bought from hardware store. These silicone is used in bathroom fixtures that can take hot water, so heat is not an issue. As long as your "O" ring is not dislodged in the middle that would affect water flow, leave it there for proper clearance, just seal the outside.
Here was my second heart attack: http://forums.offshoreelectrics.com/...2Fwater+jacket
Good Luck!

[martin]

Ive had this problem on a few Leopard jackets, the problem is with the width of the groove as it dosnt allow the o ring to sit lower in the groove & stands out to much. I know most cant do this but I re machine the groove wider ( not depth wise but front to back of the groove) allowing the o ring to sit lower.

[martin]

Most motors including the Leopards have to sharp edges on the end caps, not allowing the o ring to ease on. On the leopard 40 series motors the O ring also gets caught on the sharp edges of the counter bores where the screws are ruining the o ring. I got round this by machining a disc the diam of the motor with a nice long bevel with a 5mm hole in the centre that I slide onto the motor shaft & pushed against the end cap giving the motor a nice end cap bevel. I can now slide on the tightest fitting jackets with no damage at all.

[Southwest]

Don't laugh! I use pcv pipe and have to use dremel and grind out the inside of pipe where rings will go and ease rings on with care and use conformal coating and no leaks. Martin is close to the answer. Why not use dremel to round the motor edges so as not to tear rings and also why not dremel to the inside of jacket to make room for rings. Actually the groove in jacket isn't needed and just make that area flat and insert a thicker ring and coat the ring in jacket. I just read Martin's post real close and not duplicating his post. I just would round the motor edges a little, not much. Trouble with beveling is a tendency for ring to slide outward and my way wouldn't tend to slide after coating is applied. I use 1/8" brass tubing and anneal and drill hole accordingly to 1/8" and curve brass pipe with one on top and one on the bottom. Enough out of me.

[martin]

I find the Leopard jackets vary on the groove size as some fit easy others are as described, the 40 series motors do have a bevel but sometimes if you have a tight jacket along with the sharp corners on the counter bored holes even after knocking the corners off these holes the silicon o ring still catches & destroys the ring. Ive had this problem also on some of the 36 series motors, because they only have very thin end caps on the motor theirs no bevel on the cap which makes fitting a tight jacket problematic, that's why I made the end cap jig with the bevel on. even a tight jacket which would be near impossible to fit slides on with a breeze.

[Fluid]

This is just another "cost" of using the 'budget' motors and hardware. I've never had the problem with the OSE/HRC jackets.

http://www.offshoreelectrics.com/pro...d=ham-leo-40XL

They do cost more, but no headaches and no leaks....



.

[tlandauer]

HRC jackets are what I use, I want to clarify that my case with the CC1515 was a rare one, HRC was extremely nice and offered free "o" rings and another jacket for a return, I declined the offer (took the extra "o" ring though) since I already had it installed and was working. All other jackets slide on without any issue and I have at least more than ten of them. This is not a complain and I was also keenly aware that the inner diameter of this jacket is tapered so that there is really only one way the customer should slide the jacket onto the motor.

[martin]

I think the main problem with Leopard jackets they use silicon o rings which are to soft & the slightest obstacle tears the rubber very easy, most other jackets ive used use the black harder rubber o rings that don't get caught & tear.

[jlanders001]

Most motors including the Leopards have to sharp edges on the end caps, not allowing the o ring to ease on. On the leopard 40 series motors the O ring also gets caught on the sharp edges of the counter bores where the screws are ruining the o ring. I got round this by machining a disc the diam of the motor with a nice long bevel with a 5mm hole in the centre that I slide onto the motor shaft & pushed against the end cap giving the motor a nice end cap bevel. I can now slide on the tightest fitting jackets with no damage at all.

Well then when are ya going to send me one of those machined discs with the roundover edges? Make mine for 40mm diameter motors... :-)

[jlanders001]

Don't laugh! I use pcv pipe and have to use dremel and grind out the inside of pipe where rings will go and ease rings on with care and use conformal coating and no leaks. Martin is close to the answer. Why not use dremel to round the motor edges so as not to tear rings and also why not dremel to the inside of jacket to make room for rings. Actually the groove in jacket isn't needed and just make that area flat and insert a thicker ring and coat the ring in jacket. I just read Martin's post real close and not duplicating his post. I just would round the motor edges a little, not much. Trouble with beveling is a tendency for ring to slide outward and my way wouldn't tend to slide after coating is applied. I use 1/8" brass tubing and anneal and drill hole accordingly to 1/8" and curve brass pipe with one on top and one on the bottom. Enough out of me.

As I said in my original post I have tried grinding the sharp edges on the motor, but the O-rings still tear up.

But thanks to everyone who posted, I have a few things to try now. I'll let you know if any of them work out for me. Just a matter of time. I'm a pretty good DIYer with this type of stuff, but this one stumped me for a while. I wish I had bought the HRC jackets, and I can't justify spending another $65+ for 3 more (two for a cat - one for a rigger).

[Southwest]

Martin, try rubber 0 rings instead of silicon o rings. Regarding pcv pipe; I have to taper the pipe that is close to m/mount on bottom end so pipe doesn't bottom of boat and fits nice and no leaks. Yes, I know it takes time but I don't like water leaks. I can't afford expensive escs that are waterproof, even the ones that have silicon goop on both ends. I would sooner use Corrosion-X than goop them up, what a mess.