Weldon 8163A fuel pump availability

[Vance Harral]

Airplane exhibited the classic "dripping from the fuel pump weep port" this week.  The crummy thing only gave us 19 years of service before the internal seals failed. 

Our airplane was "upgraded" from the original Dukes pump to the Weldon 8163A per a Mooney factory drawing, back in 2004.  As a partnership with a maintenance fund, our preference is to purchase new, or overhaul/exchange Weldon, to minimize down time.  Trouble is, looks like another round of old airplane/supply chain issues/whatever.  Aircraft Spruce says no stock until April.  Air Power says no stock until "probably" March.  Backordered at Aviation Parts Executive.  No luck at McFarlane or LASAR, though everybody is "checking on it".  We're waiting on a call back from Weldon themselves, but I don't expect that to bear fruit.  Haven't looked into going back to the Dukes pump - not particularly inclined to, but might consider it.

Anyway, it's looking more and more like our best option is to send off our existing pump to one of the overhaul shops: Aeromotors or QAA, but that's a 3-ish week turnaround time, and we were hoping for something more like instant gratification.  Anyone got any leads?  If not, anyone have any contradictory recommendations to Aeromotors, which in searching old threads seems to be the most popular overhauler?

[takair]

I recently ran into a similar issue.  Weldon seized up due to leaking bearing seals.  I couldn’t find one and Aeromotors did not have repair authorization for my Weldon pump.  Luckily I had the old Dukes pump and they overhauled that at a reasonable price.  They claim it is better than new and better than Weldon in the overhauled state.  So far so good.  It is a little louder, but no complaints.  I still need to figure out what to do with my Weldon pump…seems like a waste since it is in good shape other than bearings and seals.  It did not last as long as I would have hoped…

[PT20J]

Doesn’t the Dukes pump need a filter?

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, takair said:

I recently ran into a similar issue.  Weldon seized up due to leaking bearing seals.  I couldn’t find one and Aeromotors did not have repair authorization for my Weldon pump.  Luckily I had the old Dukes pump and they overhauled that at a reasonable price.  They claim it is better than new and better than Weldon in the overhauled state.  So far so good.  It is a little louder, but no complaints.  I still need to figure out what to do with my Weldon pump…seems like a waste since it is in good shape other than bearings and seals.  It did not last as long as I would have hoped…

Was yours the same 8163A?  I thought Aeromoters overhauled those?

Going back to a Dukes would require “unmodifying” the brackets, no?

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, PT20J said:

Doesn’t the Dukes pump need a filter?

For some reason I thought there were versions without the “plastic” vanes, but I don’t have any documentation for that.

[Ragsf15e]

I did find the Weldon 8163A on Aeromoters website, so worth a call.  One of our earlier threads mentioned doing an exchange with them if they have one sitting there. Apparently, they’ve been really helpful in the past.

[takair]

Sorry, just looked at records.  I had a Weldon 18020-A.  It is interchangeable with my Dukes pump (don’t have part number at the moment).  Both are compatible with the filter that was added years ago for the Dukes.

[Ragsf15e]

21 minutes ago, takair said:

Sorry, just looked at records.  I had a Weldon 18020-A.  It is interchangeable with my Dukes pump (don’t have part number at the moment).  Both are compatible with the filter that was added years ago for the Dukes.

That makes sense.  I think there’s a bracket conversion that happens when you switch to the Weldon 8163a which would make it “distasteful” to switch back to the Dukes.  Nice that you had a compatible replacement available.

[Vance Harral]

Thanks for the replies so far.  We called Aeromotors.  They don't have any exchange units in stock, but their quoted price to overhaul our existing unit is the best we've found so far.  They also have authorization to make internal components (including armatures), unlike some other overhaulers; and returned units come with an 8130-3.  So that's likely the way we'll go, unless someone else reports something clever here.

[jetdriven]

C&J overhauls Weldon pumps and I would do anything I could to reinstall a Weldon.

[65MooneyPilot]

Here is the pump I installed in my Mooney  around 4 years ago. It works fine no STC bracket required.

[chriscalandro]

C&J

[Vance Harral]

Again, thanks for all the replies so far.  For what it's worth regarding the recommendations to use C&J, we did attempt to contact them for a quote, but they have not returned our phone call in almost 2 full business days.  Further discussion with Aeromotors reveals they can also provide us with fresh leather washers and O-rings for the attach fittings (see https://mooneyspace.com/topic/41467-fuel-line-gasket-an6291-6-or-alternative/), so Aeromotors remains our plan.