Well I polished up the shaft before I installed the first time around. There is some metal flaking off the shaft though that concerns me. It was rusty, and I dremeled it with a metal polisher until it cleaned up. I figured the shaft was enclosed inside of the impeller shaft so any flaking wouldn't damage the seal. The leak happens about 1 drop every 30 seconds when the pump is off. When the pump turns on the frequency of the drips increases to about 1 drop every couple of seconds (maybe 5 seconds). It's kind of a pain to drain the hot tub, and then pull the pump just to readjust the current seal that is brand new and see the same leak. I figured another 15$ for a new seal would be worth it just to be sure the second time around its done right. If the shaft flaking is an issue then does that mean that this pump is just about shot and a drip is about the best I can do? Water was spraying out before I put the new seal in... Thanks!