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I pulled my Turbo to change the exhaust housing and came across a couple of concerns..One is the exhaust wheel has a chip out of it..the other is I noticed some play in the shaft and am not sure if that is normal or needs a rebuild. The third is..The guy told me when I bought this truck a few years back that it has a 1st generation BD Thrusher Turbo on it..There are no markings on it..How can you tell. Hopefully the pictures and links I attached will help.
I ended throwing a rebuild kit at it...but after doing research it did have a 360 thrust bearing in it. Nothing failed..I just happened to come across the excessive play while changing out the up pipes. As far as boost..nothing crazy..maybe 25 max. I wasn't burning oil and had no signs of lack of power outside the exhaust leak. If I was to speculate..maybe that chip on the exhaust wheel was enough to throw the balance out and started to cause wear on the thrust bearing. Or maybe the BD turbo was not new when the last owner bought it and its just worn out. knowing what I know now, I'm going to pull it back out and replace the guts (exhaust wheel/360 thrust). It's actually an easy job. Hardest part I have found is getting that monkey putt to seal up. seems I have to retorque a few times over 500 miles to get it to seal. Anyone know a better remedy??
I would definitely replace that exhaust wheel and shaft. Without a doubt, it is presenting a balance issue. You will just wear out any new bearing really quick if you keep it in there.