So I see lots of info out there in the cyber world about pulling the intake housing off and using an impact to pull the old wheel off. Then I read the websites of the folks selling the wheels and they say "DO NOT USE AN IMPACT TO CHANGE THE WHEEL" it can cause stress cracks and turbo failure.

I'm looking for experience from the brotherhood. Anyone out there have a turbo failure shortly after using an impact. What do you guys recommend.

Have already done the EBPV delete pedestal and bellowed uppies. don't have anything I need to do that requires pulling the turbo but will do it if there is a chance of damaging it.

Thanks,

 

Look up how fast the turbo shaft spins at full boost. Seems like it's a decent amount over 100,000 rpm's. That's moving pretty fast. My tires don't spin anywhere near that fast, yet I get them balanced to prevent vibrations.

Now picture what might happen if you stick a screwdriver in the exhaust wheel of your turbo and hit the intake side with an impact. How big of a nick in the exhaust wheel would it take to get the thing just a little out of balance at 100,000 rpm's? At that speed, how much vibration would it take before it shook itself apart?

That said, many have used the impact method with no ill effects that we know of. Then again many folks don't keep vehicles that long or drive their truck that much. If you really don't want to pull the turbo, I'd think it would be safer to use a ratchet and gentle pressure than an impact.

 

Thanks for the reply Chris. Definitely won't be sticking anything hard in the exhaust side. Thought about pulling the down pipe and seeing if I could get my hand and a rag in far enough to hold the wheel and use a wrench or socket on the inlet wheel. I'm guessing if it could be reached someone would have posted about it before or put it on you tube. I don't have an EBPV so it's a straight shot but pretty deep.

 

I don't think that is quite the approach he is referencing...I think this is the jist of it:

 

I'm glad you asked this, as I was thinking of posting the same question. My guess is that, in spite of all the warnings about what might happen, there will be no stories of actual failures.


Mark

 

Nor can you insure the wheel your putting on is properly balanced and true.

When i changed mine, I removed the turbo to do the ww install on the bench.. Royal pain and the sucker was heavy.. I couldn't bring myself to jamming something in there on the exaust side anyways, So i used the impact. I figured the impact was less stressfull than prying. it was pretty tight. So i removed my turbo for nothing.

I think, once you mess with it, you messed with it.. It will always be the blame of any future failures.. You will never win.

 

I've changed my compressor wheel at least 3 times. All of them using the screw driver method. I dropped the downpipe just far enough to get a screw driver over the top. I used about a 1/4" dia and almost doubled its size wrapping it in electrical tape. This then wedged against the EBPV and I put a socket on the compressor wheel and it came right off. The first time I did that was over 100k ago and no adverse affects.

 

I haven't seen that video before, but please take anything you see on powerstoke help with a huge grain of salt. While that did work in his video, you have to keep in mind that there's no oil flow to the turbo when you do that. The shaft spins just fine on the film of oil that remains in there, but repeatedly bumping it with an impact, especially if you hold the impact at a slight angle could lead to issues.

The old impact method used the screwdriver in the exhaust to hold the shaft still to get the wheel off.

The stories of what might happen are so everyone can make a well informed decision when it comes to the possibility of having to buy a new or rebuild a turbo.

While we don't have any stories that can directly tie this method to a turbo failure, we do have plenty of stories where someone who used this method later blew their turbo and ended up doing an upgrade. Would the turbo have blown anyway based on abuse or did the screwdriver or impact method contribute? No way of knowing for sure. It's your money so do as you please, but at least do so with a knowledge of the risks.

That said, I've stuck a screwdriver in the exhaust wheel and removed an intake wheel with a ratchet before. But I understood the risks. It wasn't just some video I saw on youtube.

My goal here is just to make sure everyone understand what they're getting into.

 

Fair enough. Is the risk that of the shaft turning without lubrication, and causing what is essentially premature wear? If that's the case, just don't let the wrench and wheel continue to coast. I didn't understand why the guy in the video did that.

Or is the impact gun somehow putting too much stress on the shaft, and causing a catastrophic failure? That doesn't seem likely, unless, as you say, the wrench is held at an angle. If this type of failure has occurred after removing the wheel with an impact, I'd like to read the first hand account.

Mark

 

I'll throw my 2pennies, since I installed doing both methods. First round with the impact. Turbo lasted a whomping weekend. After install on Friday, no known funny sounds until it was too late come that Sunday. Got on it with boost increasing then BAM!. She let go. After removal, I found that the wheel and shaft was not seated entirely. The end of shaft should protrude about 3/16 to 1/4in past wheel. Mine was flush. The snap ring washers that are on shaft, were not recessed into their respective places. So, install was a flop to begin with......mind you, it broke the shaft when she let loose....NEXT install was with the BD wheel. Glad that was installed with turbine out. The threads were not correct or they were tapered because that thn;g wouldn't thread on past 2 turns. Used the shaft to thread it then removed, cleaned threads up then re-installed. Turbo with wheel still bang'n after 3yrs and 80k+ miles
So, in conclussion, at very least, use the screwdriver with duct tape, if your not removing turbo

 

If you watch this one at about the 6:30 mark is were he removes his. Just a tap on the trigger. Seems like that would be the way I would do it if I decided to use an impact.

But since I'm cheap and don't want to risk having to replace the turbo I will probably use a wooden dowel to hold the exhaust side and a socket / wrench or pull the turbo out completely. Mainly because of this from one of the popular sellers of wheels and similar on other websites

DO NOT USE AN IMPACT WRENCH TO CHANGE TURBO WHEELS! Impact wrenches cause stress fractures in the shaft that will cause failure either very soon or thousands of miles down the road. It's like a crack in your windshield that grows over time. Take your time and remove the turbo, hold onto the turbine shaft and remove the compressor wheel with an open end wrench.

 

99-03 Turbo Removal & Wicked Wheel Installation | Ford Trucks

Here is how you can use vise grips on the shaft and the way i was going to go about it, But i was afraid of snapping the bolts off to get it to that point of accessing the shaft . Plus the fact i must have spent 2 hours trying to get that exhaust clamp off. That thing sucked !. Some pop right off, most don't. I just seem to struggle with those clamps
No disrespect or insult of course, to anyone. But timmboy's process failed from a faulty thread and not noticing the wheel wasn't on all the way . Not from the use of the impact. He did bring up a good point, using a impact or wedge/ratchet. Make sure the shaft protrudes that distance after installing the wheel, before reassembly of the cover. I also had a minor thread issue

Just me and my opionion, use the vise grip method, if you can succesfully get the bolts out of the exhaust side housing and want to risk that. Or i would use the impact. Just sticking something in there (taped up screwdriver or wood) and leveraging against the oposite side turbine blades, just seems wrong to me.

Which ever you decide, ( can't say i have ever read about any failure from either the wedge process or impact gun process) Good luck.

 

Tim did you use the BD billet 9 blade? If so how do you like it? Any Surge?

I myself because of stories like yours is why I will just pull the turbo off the truck and do it the right way. Not that the other ways are wrong just that done with a impact or screwdrivers leaves a chance that something can go wrong and in my case if there is a chance of something happening it will go wrong.

 

Ed...the BD wheel is nothing more than the black w.w. thats out there. Think, the ww2 were not thought of yet. No complaints with surge, but i'll be damn if them threads were not right to begin with. Glad the turbo was off and found out that way, then in the truck..(which i'd probably have done the, remove dp pipe enough to jam exhaust blade). Literally, had to re-thread the damn thing, remove it from shaft, clean the threads, then re-install on shaft...

I'll say this though, in regards to the 1st w.w. install. That thing spun on perfect until it started to spin the shaft. Then needed the impact to "seat' it. Not knowing the exact "placement" of wheel on shaft, it was my own doing then. But think, the shaft got hung up on them c-clip guides, which resulted in wheel not seating entirely....

 

This is a really good thread.

Have any of you seen thread issues with the Riffraff wheels? I'm planning to install their ported housing wheel. As safe as I think the impact method is, I wouldn't use it if there was a chance of a threading issue. That sounds like an easy way to spend a lot of money...

Mark