38R Billet Wheel
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 833
Likes: 4
38R Billet Wheel
I just noticed RiffRaff sells an upgraded wheel for the 38R. They don't give a lot of description on it, not as much detail as the wheel they make for the stock turbo.
Does anyone have this upgrade on the 38R? Wondering if it is worthwhile.
Issues I have with the turbo: surge on grades & power is not great until about 2k rpms.
Does anyone have this upgrade on the 38R? Wondering if it is worthwhile.
Issues I have with the turbo: surge on grades & power is not great until about 2k rpms.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,159
Likes: 33
From: Utah
I looked into it when I had a 38R as I was also experiencing the surge on grades and poor low to mid range performance as well as the scream.... good lord that scream. Don't miss that one bit. I also found that the best approach was to have the turbo re-balanced thus, I decided not to do it.
Not that long after, I went the T4 route with BW SXE turbo and it is a massive improvement. When I removed the 38R, unbeknownst to me, it was losing oil out the exhaust side leaving quite the oily residue in the outlet. I can only assume the surging contributed to this as it had low miles....
Not that long after, I went the T4 route with BW SXE turbo and it is a massive improvement. When I removed the 38R, unbeknownst to me, it was losing oil out the exhaust side leaving quite the oily residue in the outlet. I can only assume the surging contributed to this as it had low miles....
Super Moderator
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 13,315
Likes: 6,094
The Garrett 38R ball bearing turbos that live for a long time.... are the ones that the owners don't mess with.
Last year, I bought a 38r from Bob at Diesel O Rings (good price, good ol fashioned personal service) to ship to a friend who put a billet wheel on his 38r... that blew up on him at the most inopportune time... during an around the country trip that he had been saving for and planning for for several years. He had to abandon his trailer, paying to have it stored in a lot where he broke down for what ended up being a couple of months, and have his truck towed for more than a hundred miles, maybe a lot more, due to his remote location. And all for what? Some negligible imagined improvement that is only realizable under extreme loading?
Best to leave the 38R as Garrett designed it.
And any time a compressor wheel is changed on any turbo, best practices call for a bench rebalanced of the entire center housing rotating assembly which is best done at a professional turbo shop that has the equipment to properly balance the CHRA.
Last year, I bought a 38r from Bob at Diesel O Rings (good price, good ol fashioned personal service) to ship to a friend who put a billet wheel on his 38r... that blew up on him at the most inopportune time... during an around the country trip that he had been saving for and planning for for several years. He had to abandon his trailer, paying to have it stored in a lot where he broke down for what ended up being a couple of months, and have his truck towed for more than a hundred miles, maybe a lot more, due to his remote location. And all for what? Some negligible imagined improvement that is only realizable under extreme loading?
Best to leave the 38R as Garrett designed it.
And any time a compressor wheel is changed on any turbo, best practices call for a bench rebalanced of the entire center housing rotating assembly which is best done at a professional turbo shop that has the equipment to properly balance the CHRA.
Thread Starter
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Laughing Gas
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 833
Likes: 4
The Garrett 38R ball bearing turbos that live for a long time.... are the ones that the owners don't mess with.
Last year, I bought a 38r from Bob at Diesel O Rings (good price, good ol fashioned personal service) to ship to a friend who put a billet wheel on his 38r... that blew up on him at the most inopportune time... during an around the country trip that he had been saving for and planning for for several years. He had to abandon his trailer, paying to have it stored in a lot where he broke down for what ended up being a couple of months, and have his truck towed for more than a hundred miles, maybe a lot more, due to his remote location. And all for what? Some negligible imagined improvement that is only realizable under extreme loading?
Best to leave the 38R as Garrett designed it.
And any time a compressor wheel is changed on any turbo, best practices call for a bench rebalanced of the entire center housing rotating assembly which is best done at a professional turbo shop that has the equipment to properly balance the CHRA.
Last year, I bought a 38r from Bob at Diesel O Rings (good price, good ol fashioned personal service) to ship to a friend who put a billet wheel on his 38r... that blew up on him at the most inopportune time... during an around the country trip that he had been saving for and planning for for several years. He had to abandon his trailer, paying to have it stored in a lot where he broke down for what ended up being a couple of months, and have his truck towed for more than a hundred miles, maybe a lot more, due to his remote location. And all for what? Some negligible imagined improvement that is only realizable under extreme loading?
Best to leave the 38R as Garrett designed it.
And any time a compressor wheel is changed on any turbo, best practices call for a bench rebalanced of the entire center housing rotating assembly which is best done at a professional turbo shop that has the equipment to properly balance the CHRA.
The 38R shall remain as-is!
FTE Chapter Leader
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 13,119
Likes: 4,721
From: Henderson, NV
Wow. I guess I've lucked out. I've had a RiffRaff billet wheel on my 38R for years now and did not rebalance at the time of installation. Having said that, the failures I have had in the last 12 months (hole in piston #3, exploding tcase, etc etc) tells me my 38R is about to explode. Time to go T4/SXE.
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