Rebuilding the Whisper Wash Swivel Assembly

[Grahams 14]

Do you guy's actually buy the rebuild kit and do it yourself? for the last 5 years we have always had our done, and it costs like $200 bucks. The rebuild kit can be found here for $50 bucks. Also has anyone customized theirs so that you can grease it? Mine right now is spitting out all the grease and water out of the side holes..

Seal Kit - Whisper Wash Classic Repair Parts

My questions are:

Is it fairly easy to do for the first time? and does it always work? (we rebuilt ours last time with our own o-rings and using a few of the old seals and it didn't work..)

Also does anyone run a big guy from a 4gpm honda 13 hp p.w or is that just not possible? I got trailer already rigged up and the guy said that's what he used, but I tried it on my other 4gpm p.w and it didn't spin nearly fast enough, so I'm using my 20" classic. The p.w he used it on needs the Udor pump rebuild, and it's been a pain finding a rebuild kit, but finally got one ordered last week.

Thanks

[Grahams 14]

So no one has ever had to rebuild their swivel assembly? Guess I'll be the 1st to find out, how hard it is.

[dollarspa 14]

go on to u tube .....you wil find nigels video on how to rebuild one also i think its in the forums here as well...good luck

[Christopher 102]

You need a press or an arbor press to press the bearings off the shaft and then the new bearings onto the shaft but after you clean up the shaft with a wire wheel of the junk that is on the shaft will mess up the new seals.

I have mine rebuilt by a shop. PM me if you want the info. The seal kit is about $40 and the bearings are about $40 and labor is about $60 I think. Plus shipping there and back. They use a different bearing than what some other companies use and I have got over 3 years out of the rebuilds on the swivels on my classic and big guy so far.

There is a rule of thumb from a very smart guy over on pt state that says about 4 inches of surface cleaner per gallon per minute so the big guy is way too big for a 13hp machine. I found out the hard way that even a 5.5gpm is a little bit slow for the big guy but when you put 8gpm on the big guy, it works great. For 4gpm, I would stick with the classic or a little bit smaller (19") and you will be ok.

If you don't have a press for the bearings, you will need to find a shop that can do the job for you but most machine shops have a $60 or $80 minimum so for the money, I just send my swivels to the shop and have them rebuilt right with the different bearings so they last in this hot humid environment.

Hope this helps.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Christopher

[Grahams 14]

Thanks for the help Chris, I'll see if I can get it pressed on using a vice and sockets, but if not my neighbor has a press where he works. I should be getting the seal kit today, so we will find out. Yeah I guess I should rebuild the assembly on the big guy and just put it in the trailer for a back up and put the big guy body in storage until I can get a bigger machine..

and dollarspa, Ill try and see if I can find that video. thanks

[Christopher 102]

The Whisper Wash does not have a grease fitting and you do not grease it. Maybe the grease you are talking about is the BE or Whirl A Way swivel.

Either way, I would change out the bearings and seals each time it is rebuilt.