2010 Kawasaki JetSki STX-15F Overhaul - First Ski

[mdmay62]

Hi everyone,

New member here, on Monday I picked up a 2010 Kawasaki JetSki STX-15F as a project 2 weeks ago. It was always a dream of mine since high school to own a PWC. This was a deal I could not pass up on with my in-laws purchasing a beach house with a spare slip to fill. It turns over, haven't gotten it to actually start yet but that is lower on the priority list right now. It came with a bound impeller so my first task was to get the jet pump off and start overhauling it.

I had a lot of trouble getting the impeller removed from the driveshaft but this thread: http://greenhulk.net/showthre...ck+drive+shaft gave me the knowledge to get the drive shaft unstuck with a bolt and 3/8" ball bearing.

Then I started using MagicEzy 9 second chip fix to fix and few chips in the hull and it came out pretty good. The parts of the pump I got off I cleaned up and will be reused, other parts will need to be replaced. I also picked up a pump rebuild kit with new bearings, seals, and slip rings. The existing bearings are seized up pretty good as well. Another thought I have it to change the color scheme a bit to match my truck.

[steve45]

Welcome aboard, mdmay62!

While you've got the pump apart, do the bearing upgrade!

[TJS0712F]

Replacing wear ring and repairing impeller 07-12F (greenhulk.net)

[mdmay62]

Welcome aboard, mdmay62!

While you've got the pump apart, do the bearing upgrade!

Interesting, I am replacing all the bearings. What is the bearing upgrade?

[mdmay62]

Replacing wear ring and repairing impeller 07-12F (greenhulk.net)

Thank You! I actually saw the seller last night while I was browsing around and couldn't sleep and was wondering if it could be done on mine. That is a huge savings if I can make that work.

[mdmay62]

Today I was able to press the old bearing off the pump shaft and hopefully I can press the new bearing on tomorrow. I use a press at my job after hours to help with this job.


Clean up of vane guide cover.

Old bearings above new bearings with cleaned up pump shaft.

I also received some vinyl wrap in today and attempted one of the side panels, the color is awesome I just need a little more practice with the wrap, side 2 will be way better. I'll update that tomorrow, forgot to take pictures after it was done.

[steve45]

The bearing upgrade adds another bearing and puts a nut on the shaft so it can't move. In the original design, the thrust from the impeller can actually cause the shaft to move forward, putting pressure on the driveshaft, and destroying the engine crankshaft. Do a search here, there is a lot of info on it.

[mdmay62]

Wow there is a lot of good information on that. Since I already have a wear ring replacement and all the bearings I believe I will run it in the original configuration next season while working on building a new pump (minus impeller for next season. We are not going to be running this thing full rpm and full speed all the time and probably won't even hit 100 hours of runtime on the ski next season so hopefully it will all be fine until then. This gives me time to recoup some funds and gives me next year's winter project.

[mdmay62]

Here is the blue that will be the scheme now. The wrap isn't perfect but it'll do for now. It almost prefectly matches my truck that I tow it with.

I don't want to get too far ahead of myself so this will probably be the end of the visuals until the mechanical rebuild is done and I get it to start. I did verify the injectors are firing. I'm going to throw the battery on the tender as well as check my fuel flow rate and possibly put new gas in and check the timing pretensioner/chain. It cracks but doesn't start and occasionally I'll hear a cylinder try to fire, so I still have troubleshooting to do.

[mdmay62]

Made some progress over the last week and a half. I found the spark plugs for a good deal so I have them on order and will replace them just as part of the process I figured it can't hurt to put new parts on when I don't know the current age of them especially with having some slight starting troubles. I gave it a good wash for the first time and found out the white on the hull is actually in really good shape so I'll just have to touch it up here and there but nothing crazy. I also did a clean of the inside of the hull because it was pretty nasty in there. After the clean up I found the traction mats were pulling up on one side, I was initially hoping to hold off on them until next off season however now it seems I will be putting that on the list for this off season now too. I also was able to easily pull off one "Kawasaki" decal that was in rough shape as well as the previous registration numbers.

First blue piece installed

Chips filled and "Kawasaki" Decal removed to be replaced.

Wear Ring cut out

Traction Mats removal in progress


Cleaned up after washing

[smokeysevin]

If you have not already gotten some, I have a spare set of hydroturf prestick traction pads new in bag.

Sean

[mdmay62]

If you have not already gotten some, I have a spare set of hydroturf prestick traction pads new in bag.

Sean

Thanks Sean, I wish I would've checked this notification sooner, I have ordered some pads already. I appreciate the offer though!

[mdmay62]

Today I changed out 3 of 4 spark plugs, the plug in cylinder 4 broke on me so that's the next task to fix haha. I also got a few more traction pads off and ran the buffer over the white and it came out much better yet so that won't need much more work. Yesterday I got the wear ring installed as well as the shaft with the new bearings and test fit the old impeller to see how the new wear ring fits, I couldn't be happier with the results.

Wear ring installed

Shaft installed in housing

Test fit old impeller, still need to order new impeller

Old vs New spark plugs

Broken spark plug

Cleaned up more

[smokeysevin]

How did the wear ring install go?

Sean

[mdmay62]

So I actually work for a pump company so I had one of the guys that handwork our impeller cut the old wear ring out because he has a steady hand. Then I froze the wear ring and could almost install by hand but ultimately had to use a press because it would warm up due to my body heat and it slide right in it was actually really easy to do I'll probably attempt cutting the next one out myself. We'll see how the clearances are when I get the new impeller as I believe the current impeller is worn a fair amount. The old impeller clears no problem all the way around. All-in-all I would, at this point, absolutely take this route over buying a new housing saving something like $300 or so.