I can't find anything on what to do/look for when going through one of these pumps. Took the bottom cover off two that we have, gears look amazingly good. The gears on a low mileage SBC I'm running right now looked worse. Is any tiny bit of slop between the gears OK? How about getting the gears off the drive shaft if I need to? Can the bushings be checked without going that far with it? I pulled the fitting off that holds the relief valve and spring to help get it clean. The fitting gaskets got screwed up, where can I get one? Does the fitting really need to be safety wired again? Any advice, thread or website you can offer is appreciated. Maybe a Ford barn question.
Don't have books here at work, but shop manual gives specs for gear mesh slop, side clearance, etc. If you can't move the gear more than barely perceptible no need to dis***emble fully...check side clearance (which really cannot change, but check it), mesh clearance, wiggle to see if bushings OK, drop end play to minimal...I don't believe there is a spec for that. I believe the originals are made to much closer tolerances than current ones (I've checked a few) and that many originals are fine...they do get real good lubrication! dis***emble blow-ff and clean, soak main pump thoroughly in carb cleaner. Last one I checked was a truck one...pickup screen was essentially blocked with SMALL GRAVEL, really. Gears and clearances and slop were all essentially perfect.
Yeah, the byp*** filter and pickup screen must be pretty effective. I had low expectations for the pumps I have based on the goo in the oil pans. No gravel, though. Both the pumps I have look serviceable to me. I will probably skip the safety wire, nobody seems to do that any more.
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