I am in the process of rebuilding my stock turbo. I am adding a Riff Raff wheel to it.

What say the masses about rebalancing the spinning mass together? Do I need to do it? Any one near SC that balances turbos? Anyone I should steer clear of?

Ryan

 

There are pleanty of people on here that say it's a must and plenty that have not done it and run with no issues. I was in the same boat but in the end I installed it. So far so good at 20K.

Techniacally, you need to have it balanced. This place has a pretty good rep. Give them a call... Barder Turbo Service - HOME

 

I myself am a believer that a turbo should be core / VSR balanced. But I have rebuilt the turbo that is in my truck and did not have it balanced and no problems that I know of for 20k. There are many upsides to having a turbo balanced but the few main reasons in my book for balancing are 1:A turbo balanced to tighter specs will spool up quicker 2: Less wear on the bearings 3: Less stress on the turbine shaft. I hear many guys say that So and So's billet wheel is balanced at the factory. But at the factory how are they balancing it ( Static or only spinning 3000rpms) and to what spec. How many grams?? That also does not take into consideration the balance of the turbine & compressor wheels together spinning at said rpm. I had talked to a guy on a another forum that bought a new billet wheel and sent it with the turbine out for balancing and found the new billet wheel was 3 grams out of balance. It might have been balanced by itself but as a core unit it was way out of balance. If you ask any of the companies that are selling or making a billet compressor wheel what is the specs it was balanced to? The only answers I have gotten is "It is balanced at the factory." Well that tells me NOTHING!!

Now I have a new billet wheel that I want to install in my turbo and I hope when the time comes to actually do it that I have the time and money to send it to Barder Turbo. I have heard very good things about them. Also I would like to get one of Barder's 360* thrust bearing. Mind you my turbo only has maybe 20k on it. But the 360* thrust bearing is a nice add on to have along with it being balanced.

Years ago I use to run a '89 Turbo Coupe and I blow up and broke a handful of turbos of different combo's. Until I had one built and balanced on a TurboTechnics VSR Mk3 balancer. I don't recall the company. Which in my option is one of the best core balancers out there. But I can't find anyone that uses a VSR Mk3 that has the adapters for a GTP38.
Balancing machines - Turbo Technics

Now on these turbo diesels they don't spin as fast as a turbo gasser do so you don't see them fail as much as you do on a turbo gasser. But it does happen and balancing any turbo is just a piece of insurance that you have done everything you can do to hope it doesn't come apart and hopefully get at least 100k miles out of it. OK maybe I'm dreaming now.LOL
Sorry for ....................

 

That is what I was looking for. Thanks. I will be sending it off next week to Barders. Its worth the extra insurance to me.

Ryan

 

Let us know on the cost. I to rebuilt mine without rebalancing and have been fine. I'd like to know the cost if I decide to in the future.

 

It is $65 for the balancing. You have to pay shipping both ways for the shaft and new wheel. They don't need the entire turbo. Takes him about a day to do so the post office will have it more than he will.

Ryan

 

Just put it together and run it. No need to pay someone to balance it. Waste of money.

 

^^ i agree

The wheels' already balanced, plus, how do you think your going to re-install the received cartridge? Gotta remove the comp wheel, so, how then do you know your installing it at the correct place the balancer did...waste of $$ in my book.

 

Tim as far as balancing I think I am going to have to agree that we disagree. Let's see if you agree with this statement
"Anything that is round and spins (rpm) should be balanced. And the higher the rpm's more critical balancing becomes."
To make my point when you put new tires on a rim you have the wheel & tire balanced on both the front and back side of the rim. So if you still don't believe it matters then next time you get a tire balanced tell them only balance one side.
Now a turbo spins / rpm's way MORE rpm's then a tire.

Now as far as the point of how you would reinstall the turbine and compressor wheels to get them lined up to the balanced point or realigned. That is the tricky part because since Barder only balances the wheels themselves and not a true core balancing. True core balancing is done with the wheels installed in the center section with bearing to check also for harmonic vibrations at different rpms that is why I like the VSR Mk3. But getting back to point of how to restall correctly and get the wheels realigned. Because if you don't align them the same as they were when they were balanced then you have wasted you money and might be setting yourself up to make it more inbalanced. I have asked that question and been told from a couple of different turbo shops that they put a little ding in the shaft & wheel or grind mark. I have not talked to Barder's yet. I've also heard of places that mark it with a marker or paint which doesn't sound like that great of a way to do it. But I guess if you take your time you can get them realigned. Personally when I have mine done I'm going ask them to make sure that it is exactly torqued to spec ( I think it was 10ft/lbs 120in/lbs??) with a good torque wrench and ding the shaft& wheel also. And I don't mind spending a few $$ for the piece of mind.

 

Looks as though, were on the same page with your 2nd half paragraph. However your first post, i understand about "balancing" may have been born at night, but not last night, lol...If you look at the backside of the comp wheel, its already balanced...weight wise and rotating wise.

anyhow, if it helps members sleep at night, who am i to say different. Just throw'n my opinion...like they say..opinions are like a-holes, everyone has one and they usually stink..HAHA!

 

Tim my wife says something close to that on a regular basic to me minus the part about "everybody" LOL She might be right?

But the beauty of a forum like this FTE you get both sides of the coin and get to hear the pro's and con's of an issue. Without people getting all pissie over a subject. OK so sometimes people get their panties in a wad.... For the most part I enjoy the fact that we here at FTE get to hear all sides of a subject.

 

The shops I talked to have asked for the wheel and the shaft to balance them. At the RPMs a turbo spins, it is worth he extra $85 to ensure that it is as balanced as I can make it. If I was in a bind and needed the truck now, I would just stick it on there, but I can wait another week to install.
My yellow tape box got here today! Giggle giggle.

Ryan

 

Ryan when you get the wheels back from Barder please post up how they mark the wheel and shaft or how they say to get it realigned to where it was after balancing. See if they can tell you how much was out of balance. Like was it the turbine or the compressor wheel out of balance or both??/

I have a BD billet 9 blade that I'll be sending in with the turbine and I want to also know if the balancing was good or how bad it actually was. So I am looking forward to hearing what you think of Barder Turbo.