For Aggressor, American Turbine, Dominator,

Berkeley and Legend Jet Drives

 

"You really have to see this one to believe it!  My customers

have been so impressed that they won't tell their buddies

about this one.  They want the edge!"

-Jim

 

 

DUE TO THE NATURE OF THE MARINE INDUSTRY, PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.

 

The White Lightning top loader built by Performance Jet is the only loader on the market that provides a 5th mounting point for severe duty applications.  Shown here in the photo, you can see the 5th mounting point located at the rear end of the loader.  The jet drive has to be removed from the intake adapter to set this up.  Mark and drill the adapter and tap for a 1/4 x 20 tapered head fastener; a washer may be needed for a shim on some set ups.  This will lock down the loader and eliminate any possibility of vibration or movement.

 

TOP LOADER NOTICE!

 

As of 2014 The Performance Jet supply of White Lightning top loaders has run out.  At this time Jim has not made a decision as to whether or not he wants to make any more of these great loaders in the near future.

 

Performance Jet still sells Hardin loaders for the

Berkeley 12JE and 12JF jet drives as well as

the entry level “angle ramp” loaders.

 

Berkeley 12JE/F loaders    $190

Berkeley 12JC/JG loaders   $238

Entry level SE loaders  $145
Jacuzzi WJ S/E loader  $145
Jacuzzi YJ S/E loader  $115
12 JE/F Sling Blade Loader $85

 

Problems with fully loading the BERKELEY 12JE/F jet drive for High HP and speed. 

 

 The Berkeley 12JE jet is a set back jet that allows for more room in the passenger area of your boat. With this model the suction housing is shorter than the standard 12JB/C/G jet drive. As a result, the roof and floor of the intake are set at a steeper angle. 

 

Because of this increased angle, the JE/F pump will experience some difficulty fully loading the impeller in high horsepower, high speed applications. At speeds over sixty MPH, with a built jet, this pump will start to cavitate as suction pressures drop, even with a ramp loader. This problem is far more acute than standard jet drives. 

 

Hence the need for TOP LOADERS in mixed flow marine jet drives. For the 12JE/F pumps there are only two loader designs, the steel ramp loader, sold by CP, and the blade type loader. 

 

A word of caution, when using the heavy steel type loader, the fasteners must be upgraded from the ¼ x 20 S/S screws to 5/16” x 18 Black oxide HD screws. With the Berkeley JE/F jet the rock grate (or the loader) is bolted thru the hull bottom and screwed into a cast aluminum mount plate ( Berkeley part # M-05928). With the steel ramp loader and more power, the ¼” x 20 screws will pull out of the mount plate and your loader will separate from the hull. This can be a real problem for sure at higher speeds. If you choose to use this style of loader, at higher speeds, you must drill out for the larger 5/16” x 18 fastener. Drill thru the mount plate and use a lock nut to hold the loader tight. 

 

The blade loader design was first used by the late Jack Keaton, as far as I know, who designed and built Keaton jet boats. These boats are very nicely designed and built back in the seventies and eighties. Jack used Berkeley 12JE jets exclusively for these boats and thus he ran into cavitation problems that he addressed with a “blade loader” design. 

 

Fast forward to the 21st. century where more jet boaters are building big horsepower motors to be put in front of built 12JE jets and they ran right into high-speed cavitation issues, even with the ramp loader, beyond 60 MPH. 

 

A hand full of my customers here in Northern California, are members of a Nor Cal, Keaton jet boat club. These guys are a bunch of “bent wires”, who live and breathe more horsepower, and speed. Along with crazy huge rooster tails that blow water on the roadways of bridges as they blast down the Sacramento river.

 

 

These are smart folks in this club. They have done a lot of R&D work to try and reduce pump cavitation in order to keep their jet drives alive. They began to focus on the blade loaders that were already on some of their members jet boats. The ramp loaders were not working well at the higher speeds that they were trying to achieve. Turns out the Blade loader works the best on some of their boats, and it is installed right on top of the stock rock grate. With these loaders, some of these guys have reached speeds of 91 MPH with out cavitation. This to me, was unheard of for the 12JE jet. 

 

 These blade loaders have been modified with heavier pieces and wider blades in order to load the pump harder for these higher performance applications. I decided to put these together in a kit for folks running the 12JE/F Berkley jet drive as an alternative to the heavy ramp style loader, which may work fine up to sixty MPH. Of course, every boat is different, and it depends on your power application and what you are trying to achieve performance wise. NOTE-- These blade loaders will not work well with standard Jet drives. Set back pumps only. 

 

I am calling this kit the PJ/K “sling blade loader” kit for Berkeley 12 JE jets. 

 

 The K is in honor of the late Jack Keaton and his fifty years of innovation in the Jet boat industry. In his later years Jack started a jet drive parts company under the name of Heritage MFG, I was one of his dealers. Place Diverter bought his company a year before he passed and continues with his line of parts. 

 

New for 2022, I will be selling this kit for $85.00

 

 

 

 

For the serious Jet boater Performance Jet is now offering

the Ultimate HD top loader and has them in stock, ready to go.

 

The Ultimate HD is the strongest loader on the market today and is made from CNC machined, tig welded, 4130 Chrome Molly Steel.  This top loader is noticeably shorter than other loaders on the market and is made that way, by design, to open up the floor of the intake and to create a more unobstructed space in front of the eye of the impeller for improved loading and performance.

 

This is one strong top loader with a great new design that is preferred by drag racing teams across the country. It has been used very successfully by teams that run serious triple digit speed numbers.

This top loader is the Ultimate choice for Lake boaters and serious racers everywhere.  Ultimate strength and design is why Jim calls this top loader the Ultimate HD.

 

The Ultimate HD is no longer available at this time.     

 

Top Loader Fastener Kit

 

When installing the Ultimate HD top loader or any loader for high performance use, Jim recommends using top quality fasteners.  The stock ¼” x 20 stainless fasteners that come in the stock application are not strong enough for good top loaders. Stainless bolts are rated only at Grade 2 for strength.  Performance Jet suggests that the ¼” hole be drilled out and re-tapped for 5/16” x 18 high strength steel fasteners. It is also recommended the mounting boss for the intake grate to be drilled all the way through and tapped the full length of the mounting boss.

 

Performance Jet sells a mounting kit that consists of four 5/16” x 18 x 1 1/4” long , grade 8 torx head, flathead cap screws with a tensile strength of 120,000 psi.  These fasteners are just long enough to clear the length of the mounting boss to avoid clearance problems in some applications.  For the strongest installation, when clearance allows, you can use a fastener that is 1.5 inches long and back it up with a nut.

 

Grade 8 Fastener kit    $8