: I have the footpump ready to install. It will probably never look this good
: again. There will be a few feet of garden hose + two Y connectors on the
: right. It occurred to me that grit and sand may present a problem in the
: bottom pivot point on the left.

Looks great.

Just move the bottom location up a little bit. It'll put less stress on the shaft and the sand will be able to fall out the bottom. Or, just make a way for the sand to get out of the bottom.

If the bottom support is drilled all the way through and vertical shaft will slide down too far, you could put a washer on the top of the bottom support with a pin installed through the vertical shaft so it can't move down.