V6 water pumps getting hard to find

[George Bongert]

Originally Posted by TJ's GMC

You definitely are not wrong there. Far as I could tell the pump from Napa and Summit are made by the same manufacturer and Summit is under half the cost.

Yeah, and most likely they were BOTH made in China!! Seems that most aftermarket parts for our vehicles are made in China these days, which is a doggone shame. Replacement parts should be made in the USA, period!!

[Quigley]

Most of the time they are easily and economically able to be rebuilt.

[George Bongert]

Originally Posted by Quigley

Most of the time they are easily and economically able to be rebuilt.

It's just a matter of a new shaft, bearing(s) and a seal. Impellers very rarely go bad, if at all. But given that an existing water pump can be easily and economically rebuilt, what guarantee do we have that the shaft, bearing(s) and seal were not made in China??

[BobBray]

Summitt Racing does indeed carry the GMB 130-2835 with is the common V-6 water pump with the flange for the pulley and fan. NAPA still has these pumps, but for some reason they don't list them by application. If you use the GMB part number in the NAPA interchange, it crosses over to their TWP 42009. Currently NAPA has 20 in their system. BTW- TJ's is right, GMP is the water pump supplier to NAPA! It is the same pump.

[LEWISMATKIN]

bob, it's because NAPA no longer recognizes the unique differences between GMC & Chev. if you want to look this engine up in the cataloging, you have to go to the medium duty listings to actually find the engines.

[Troyport]

Sorry if I am hijacking this thread.. I need a water pump for my 68GMC with the 351, I looked at the Summit link, scrolled to the GM-130-2835, I assume this is the correct part? I read somewhere else that there may be a normal duty and a heavy duty, different bearing size.. I also considered rebuilding mine, I assume it just presses apart? Any thoughts or advice? Thanks.

[BobBray]

No problem! GMB 130-2835 is the 'light duty' pump, used on pickups and many medium duty V-6's. The big difference between this pump and the 'heavy duty' is just the way the pulley mounts. Light duty has the flange with 4 threaded holes, heavy duty has a keyed threaded shaft with no flange. The bearings may indeed be larger too, the shaft diameter is pretty big. Here is a link to a heavy duty pump for sale on Ebay (no connection to seller):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175440758276

[Troyport]

Thanks for the reply. I found out yesterday, after much research and phone calls that there are actually 3 different water pumps. keep in mind that my truck is a '68 with the 351... But, there is the big one that is mounted higher, with the tapered keyed shaft, used on air brake trucks. On the light duty trucks, like my pickup, there are 2 different pumps. The light duty has a small snout bearing, used on manual power steering trucks. The easiest way to tell this pump is the gussets that support the snout are short. Then there is a heavier duty pump that has a bigger snout bearing. This has longer gussets. My truck has factory power steering, so the heavier pump. I suppose the lighter pump would be fine since I am not using this truck very hard, and I also suppose I could have lowered the power steering pump enough to just drive it off the crankshaft. Please keep in mind that I am just getting into these trucks, so I may not be correct? I would be interested in what others may think. And also I don't know what may have changed from the 60-66's to my generation of truck. - Mike.

[Troyport]

I should add that both pumps I referred to above have the 4-hole flange for the fan and pulley.

[tbucketnut]

Be nice to see examples of both of the pumps