Reeflo Dart restoration

[dantimdad]

Well, for my first post I thought I would show you the restoration of a reeflo dart I picked up Sunday.

Here is what I started with:

 

[dantimdad]

One more shot of before:

Here it is ready for paint:

 

[dantimdad]

All painted up:

And assembled (minus the impeller housing):

I still have to finish de-crudding the impeller housing and bolt it back on.

I did a quick test and it fires right up.

I will do a water/leak test once the vinegar finishes working on the housing.

Hope you enjoy! Next thread will be cleaning an OM 4 way.

dantimdad

 

[SaraB]

Welcome to R2R!

That's one heck of a restoration process you have going there!

 

[killingseed2000]

good work, cant wait on the om cleaning.

 

[dantimdad]

I am going to start on it tonight...I have to pick up more vinegar first!



I will be modding and setting up a GC 118 custom tank soon and putting these to use.

The tank is 35x24x31. There will be a long list of mods that I will post step by steps for.

Some of which are:

drilling for a closed loop for the dart/OM
removing the current overflow box and installing a coast to coast overflow
refinishing the stand and canopy
building a foam and rock wall and aquascaping with foam and nylon rods

Stay tuned...

dantimdad

 

[gooch Verified Sponsor]

I have rebuilt a couple of these pump motors after they sieze up. Every time it is a bearing and it costs about $5 to fix if you have all the tools. I haven't ever rebuilt the seal which is almost always the reason for the failure but that is simple enough to do if they sell a kit. Not sure if they do.

 

[dantimdad]

They sell a kit. Just not sure if I need one yet.

I will do a water test soon.

dantimdad

 

[planecrazy]

How in the @#$%@!#$% did you get the impeller off? I have one that I need to replace the seals and I cannot for the life of me get the impeller off the shaft. I know that you are supposed to stick a screwdriver in the shaft opposite the impeller and twist off, but mine is STUCK. Any suggestions?
Oh, and did you sandblast the metal parts or something else?
-Aaron

 

[dantimdad]

That was the hardest part! I knew I should have photographed it. The slot is about worthless.

Here is what I did:

Take the fan cover off.
Take a thin piece of wood and put the end of it on the hub of the fan (not the shaft!)
Tap the wood with a hammer while going around the fan.
It will knock the fan down the shaft exposing about 1/2" of it.
Use vice grips and grab the shaft.
Take a rag and grip the impeller and spin it off.

Make sure you clean the threads that hold the impeller with a wire brush so it doesn't seize on there again.

Hope this helps. If not, I will take it back apart and take pics of the procedure again.

dantimdad

 

[Murfman]

How in the @#$%@!#$% did you get the impeller off? I have one that I need to replace the seals and I cannot for the life of me get the impeller off the shaft. I know that you are supposed to stick a screwdriver in the shaft opposite the impeller and twist off, but mine is STUCK. Any suggestions?
Oh, and did you sandblast the metal parts or something else?
-Aaron

Vise grips