HATRED for a part on my jeep.....

I'd just like to say how disgusted I am with that stupid metal tube that runs from the water pump to the heater core. I spent 30 minutes trying to break it loose from the old water pump. By the time it came off, the threads were stripped and the head was bent out of shape.

The dealer doesn't stock this item and a new one won't be in until monday.

If you are refering to the pipe that comes off the water pump then try matching it up at the hardware store with a brass pipe.

One more once - it can be easily replaced with a 3/8" pipe nipple, use brass.

It's not even worth the bother to pull it off the old pump, until I'm sorting parts for scrap metal. I just measure the nipples I now use (since I went to the trouble to do a right-angle setup, to get the hose out from behind the idler pully) and build a new one. Impeller and hub get pulled and go into steel, housing goes into aluminum, and the old nipple into brass.


5-90

i just changed my water pump and didnt even try to get that off i just went to the parts store and in the HELP! products area i found an adapter made just for that. i just screwed that in and it is made so you just put a soft line (mine was 3/4" rubber hose) from the pump to the heater core. just keep the old rubber hose and split it open so you can wrap it around the new one where it might lay or rub on something, acts like a buffer so your new hose dont get damaged. hope i was some help.

my god, I have changed at least four different pumps and have in every case been able to use that old nasty pipe you guys mentioned. In every case they were all in great shape too. all i had to do is put a litte heat on it at the base , hold the water pump with a monkey wrench , and crank the damn things out! putting them back in was just as easy. I do like the job and write up 5-90 did on his brass/copper plumbing stuff(cannot remember which) but i think that maybe here in indiana corosion may be a greater problem with soft metals like that versus the steel of the old one?

lazarus said:

my god, I have changed at least four different pumps and have in every case been able to use that old nasty pipe you guys mentioned. In every case they were all in great shape too. all i had to do is put a litte heat on it at the base , hold the water pump with a monkey wrench , and crank the damn things out! putting them back in was just as easy. I do like the job and write up 5-90 did on his brass/copper plumbing stuff(cannot remember which) but i think that maybe here in indiana corosion may be a greater problem with soft metals like that versus the steel of the old one?

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I know what you mean - I grew up in Lafayette.

The nice thing about brass is that, being softer, it is somewhat more resistant to corrosion. That's why boat-builders and shipwrights use so much of the stuff - because it's harder to corrode. CRES can also work, but it's rather spendier and harder to work.

Just remember that there are brass fittings that spend all of their lives going INTO and OUT OF saltwater (which is murderously corrosive on steel, especially when hot!) and they last 20-30 years or more.

And, the nipples you need are cheap enough to just automatically replace them when you change the water pump (every 10-12 years,) so that makes it a non-issue.

By the by - when you get it at the hardware store, the "pipe" (threaded stuff) is usually C360 brass, and the "tube" (sweat soldered stuff) is #2 copper plumbing alloy. Both can co-exist neatly in a system - I've got brass pipe nipples off the water pump, and #2 copper plumbing replacing the heater lines (because I got tired of trying to track down - and pay for! - those moulded right-angle heater hoses...)

No worries about using brass - it will last longer than steel, hands down. There is no sound engineering reason for using steel in plumbing - but the accountants get involved, because steel costs less than brass. See what happens when we let accountants and/or lawyers get involved in engineering decisions?

5-90

When I did the water pump on my 93 I took one look at that pipe and called the dealer, but my local dealer had it in stock. I think the brass is also a good idea if you can't wait for the o.e. part. The way I looked at it the first one lasted 13 years so the next one should last at least that long.

Well, I was working on the jeep while you guys were posting so I missed all the good info. I actually got the original tube to work. I just cut off the last couple of threads (the damaged ones) and it went on fine....

Oh....you mean kind of like when insurance compaines get invloved the medical profession....lol.
Brass/copper difinately the way to, like replacing steel with brass in exhaust systems whenever possible, saves a lot of headaches down the line.

dizzymac said:

Oh....you mean kind of like when insurance compaines get invloved the medical profession....lol.
Brass/copper difinately the way to, like replacing steel with brass in exhaust systems whenever possible, saves a lot of headaches down the line.

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Oh, dear God - YES! I've been using brass/bronze hardware on exhaust for over 20 years!

I get asked why, and my answer is simply, "you've pulled OEM hardware, haven't you?" I pull brass hardware ten years later, and (except for appearance) you'd think I'd put it on yesterday. Sold!

I'm thinking about offering "bolt kits" for exhaust/intake manifolds, just so you don't have to deal with "minimum order quantity." Bronze bolts, brass studs. Problem solved.

5-90