Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

Hey guys! My two blade fan exploded so I had to remove my water pump to replace it. Upon removal, I noticed the pump spins but not very freely. It’s needs a bit of pressure to spin it. Front bearing looks rather new. Is this normal? Thanks!

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

There is a pointed washer that nests between the impeller and the water pump housing.
It could be out of position and binding. Take the waterpump apart, and rebuild it.
Should not be any binding, as you describe.

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

...as brentwood bob said above "rebuild it". When the fan exploded did it bend the WP shaft. Better check it. ken

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

I think the packing would keep it from spinning freely.

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

"A bit of pressure to turn it", Binding", "Turn freely" are very subjective terms. There may be nothing wrong with the pump, just the owners expectation of what it should be like. IMO, if it was working well before, it will work well now so leave it alone. As Bob C said, the gland packing would prevent it spinning "freely". I suspect there is nothing wrong with it.

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

Get a leakless and throw that orig ford crap in the ditch

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

Some people like to do restoration work without modification. The original pump was a good pump.

Re: Water pump is tough to spin. Normal?
 

And some of the "leakless" pumps are pretty ordinary, IMO.