This thread teaches some one how to replace a water pump. As a bonus, at the end I will show you how to replace shocks.



There isn't alot of room between the fan shroud and front of engine as you can see. I am holding a stubby 6tmm.



The fan shroud, and upper radiator support had to be removed.



If you have an older vehicle, you may find a bolt or two that is stuck. As you can see, I have battled many stripped bolts.



With the upper radiator support gone, I have access to the fan shroud. Once unbolted,the fan shroud would not come up without removing the fan clutch. This was done with a 13mm wrench:







This is the same wrench. Much more room to work! Next, the Idler pully must be losened to relieve tension on the belt. It is located under the Power Steering Pump.



With the belt removed, I removed the first two bolts holding the pully bracket to the water pump. You will need to unbolt all the bracket retaining bolts on the steering pump except one to rock it out of the way. This was done using a 13mm and 14mm socket. The 13mm will need to be deep. It might be easier to use a 14mm stubby wrench for the rear bolt.



The thermostat cover also needed to be removed. It said this was optional in the Chilton book, but that is not true....extremely not optional.



New water pump and heater pipe. The pipe needs to be screwed onto the water pump before installation.



This wire brush was $3.50 at Home Depot. This was a great dremmel tool to remove the old gasket on the water pump and thermostat cover.



Before.....



After




As you can see, the gasket in the box does not line up. Luckily, my wife had some custom fabrication tools in her office that I could borrow:



The bolts were tightened to 20 lbs/foot



I had to use Mopar Gasket Maker for the thermostat cover. Be sure to use a gasket maker that is safe for radiator fluid:



The belt was put back on and fitted:




Radiator support, fan clutch, and fluid were installed. Please not that to get the fan cover out, you must unbolt the fan clutch first, and take the whole asembly out as one. Be careful to not hit the radiator pulling both units out. Slow and steady wins this project.



Alright! Since you stuck it out, I will show you how to replace shocks.

Step one: Remove old shocks:




Step two: Install new shocks:

 

UPDATE! Thermostat is bad...more pictures to come!