How do I get the water pump out of this Mule 3000?

cheddarpecker · June 7, 2012

Okay, y'all, I went for the stupid looking bolt first, and sure enough, it backs out into the drive housing and goes no further. I guess this is a stupid question, but do I really have to remove the cover, belt, clutch, AND THE HOUSING? Pardon my frustration, but this should have been an hour job, and it makes me want to strangle someone in engineering.

I'll thank anyone for a timely confirmation of the utterly obvious. I know this engine went in all kinds of machines, but they could have left me a hole with a plug in it behind it, or perhaps used a shorter bolt in this application. I'll hang around, but soon, I suppose I'll be tearing down half the machine to get at one poorly placed bolt.

Has anyone done this? I can't find one mention of it online.

mrOkie · June 10, 2012

If you have the Kawasaki Shop manual (Kawasaki 3010 3x4 trans Utility Vehicle Service Manual) you will soon find out that YES! you gotta pull a whole lot of stuff to get to anything near the middle of the vehicle, engine, transmission, Etc. Have you ever worked on any other Japanese made vehicle, starting with the Mitsuibitsi Zero they are all the same type of construction, you start with whatever is in the middle and start adding stuff all around that piece until you run out of pieces, then you are finished!

I found out that it takes a couple of metric sockets and little bitty hands to work on a Mule. I don't follow all the directions, but often find that I can save some time by taking shortcuts...but when I get frustrated I just go watch "The Bridge on the River K????'" and apply some British clever thoughts to the Mule and keep on 'a keepin' on! It is a good thing that buying Dynamite, caps and fuses is strictly controled or I may have a Mule scattered over 40 acres.

More times that not it pays t go to Kawasaki.com and search out a parts diagram for the section I'm working on, the Japanese terminology is weird, but after a few months I have about been able to find the right area to look, Drive shaft, propeller shaft Frame, Control, torque convertor, alternator cover, WEIRD!!!!!

cheddarpecker · June 10, 2012

My, yes. I've already come to the conclusion. Typing "puller description " into google got me the specs, now just to buy the appropriately sized bolt and make a suitable arbor to go in before it. Kawasaki has never been at the top of my list, despite the fact that they managed to get into powered equipment in a way that Honda is still far behind. I was the John Deere service guy for some time, and got to play with lots of them, from the little singles on walk behind stuff, to the big fuelies in garden tractors.

Have been, and always will be a fan of Honda motorcycles from the seventies. I feel that by the eighties, they were all washed up, everyone, with Suzuki topping the turd list, followed by Yamaha, then Kawasaki. Unfortunately, I think the EPA had the most to do with it, of course the public didn't have to buy that junk, but the alternative was American made, and nobody with any sense would have anything to do with Hardly Ableson.