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Wonder if it could just be the impeller is gunked up. Sometimes things get past the skimmer and pump baskets and get tangled in the impeller. Especially stringy things. Make sure the pump cannot come on by dumping the breaker. Don't rely on it being off with a timer in the circuit. Remove the pump basket and stick you fingers in the inlet hole at the bottom of the pump chamber and see if you can feel stuff in there.
Bearing noise should have no effect on pumping action. They just make noise until they fail to the point the whole shaft wobbles. At that point things are pretty much destroyed.
Mine is a 1607 but I did a Google on your part and seems like a 2 speed. Don't know what to say about replacing for the next owners. I'd be tempted to leave as is and make potential buyers aware of the problem and let them decide. You could always replace it with something cheaper.
Al
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