changing water pump gasket

[hellasnow]

quick question for everyone. i've got a bit of coolant leak near the water pump and wanted to try and fix it buy first tossing in a new gasket. i've read before about bubbling out the air in the system once messing with any thing along the coolant system.

so my first thought was to use the tilt trailer to my advantage and tilt the trailer with the sled on it (keeping coolant in the heat exchangers). then proceed to replace the gasket, then drop the trailer back down and refill the coolant. then after a short drive add to the coolant till it's back to normal.

this sound like i'm aiming in the right direction?

thanks all.

JC

 

[Beels]

The problem is, airlocks often start at the front from air being trapped in pockets in the cylinders, heads, etc. You're not preventing that by working on it up there. As soon as you pull the pump to throw a gasket in, you're letting most of the coolant out and you'll have to refill anyway. However, I find the best way to refill the cooling system is with the front end elevated. I've worked on dozens of sleds and haven't had an airlock situation yet.

 

[hellasnow]

thanks beels!