I have ordered rebuild parts and a new wheel (SPX 5+5 BILLET COMPRESSOR WHEEL) but after opening up the intake and looking inside I see no damage to the existing wheel, no rub marks, and hardly any dirt or oil to speak of. I do feel an excessive amount of up and down play (IMO) on my compressor wheel shaft, but not enough to contact the side walls. Guess I just want some other ears that know how their trucks sound to tell me what I am hearing is the turbo bushings worn out?? I rebuilt the stock turbo 17,000 miles ago and installed an anti-surge wheel from RR along with most of the mods in my sig. This seems far too early to be rebuilding a turbo but maybe I am wrong. Truck still runs great - 20psi of boost (all I have ever been able to produce) and all seems normal except for this sound that is rapidly getting worse. Truck is parked for now because I dont want to damage more when this thing goes because it sounds like it's on it's way out.

 

Not a normal sound at all.
Does the turbo have side to side play?
Others will chime in,could it be the torque converter..?

 

YES - it has side to side play but I do not think it is contacting the housing (can't see any evidence yet at least)
By all accounts when you hear the turbo spool up the noise follows the turbo - seems like its on the wind down in the video where I hear it most clearly but if your climbing a grade with steady boost it will sound like it has a bad "chatter" to it.
Going out now to remove the turbo to get a better look at things now

 

Any in/out play?
I imagine you are getting a different noise on decel because the wheel is thrusting the other way.

Was there any abnormal wear found when doing the rebuild? I had to buy a new housing for my dad’s because it wore into it.

 

Turbos out - on the bench ( that v-band clamp on the baby's butt is such a PITA but I won!)

I do not remember any wear on the housing but I will be looking close this time.

No play In and Out

 

I learned from other members that a quick hit with an air chisel will pop it right loose.

Let us know what you find.

 

What i meant to ask was axial or in and out play,words did not come from my mouth as they should..

Waiting for the turbo teardown results.

 

Turbo teardown results are:
(side to side) in the turbo shaft (no in and out play whatsoever - seems like there should have been after I saw the bushings?)
damage to the inside ends of both brass bushings (one worse than the other)




Close up of bushing #1



Close up of bushing #2




One more pic here of the two new bushings on the outside and the two old bushings in the inside.




Guess that's about it - fixed the problem and the new wheel defiantly builds boost different.. ..maybe better? I didn't push anything too hard on the test drive but it did build boost at at a lower RPM and once it started it shot up faster too. My boost gouge actually went up to 22psi (maxed at 20 psi with previous wheel) and that made me smile for sure. If your truck sounds like mine did - time to check the turbo bushings AND REBUILD

Thanks for the responses guys it always helps to get advise from guys that know these trucks! I know I do not post a lot but if they had a how much I read scale here I would be high on the list!! This site is amazing!

Happy I'm back up and running - BE SAFE TONIGHT!! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

 

You work quickly! Nice to hear you have it back together and working well.
I was not able to view your photos. It gave an error for some reason.

 

I will give the photos another try, cooking dinner now so it may be a while - sorry about that.

 

Photos should be viewable now in the above post.

 

How did it not have any in/out play?!? Glad you got it fixed. Any idea what caused the wear? It appears your new bushings also have a slightly different design.

 

I agree - glad I am not the only one wondering that, it seriously had no in and out movement whatsoever. Believe me I tried to move it in and out because lots of remarks here and other places said IN & OUT movement was a BAD SIGN!
Nope that still has me wondering. 17,000 miles seems like an early failure to me? Everything looked good on the exhaust side, the shaft, as well as all the aluminum housing for the turbo. If I had to say one part that did concern me slightly was the backplate for the turbo housing had some signs of wear in the center hole. No doubt that could have occured when the turbo was "vibrating" on spool-down but it was minimal and I went on with the rebuild it was so minor. The collar that went into that hole seemed to fit correctly although some play was noticeable (side to side) and I do not know if that is normal or not? All in all at the end she seemed tight and very little side to side play once the wheel was spun on and torqued to 10lbs - MY UNDERSTANDING OF THIS (small amount of side to side movement) IS THAT WHILE THE ENGINE IS RUNNING OIL FILLS THE SMALL GAP AROUND THE BUSHINGS AND THE SHAFT/BUSHINGS ESSENTIALLY RIDE ON A THIN FILM OF OIL AND THIS IS THE INTENDED DESIGN - please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes - I think this is part of the 360 deg. rebuild kit. Looks like a better design all around. The Thrust bearing was also a different design. (See below from SP Turboost)
360 degree thrust system:
"The advantage of a 360 degree thrust bearing is that it has a full circle of lubrication, and an updated pad strategy to better disperse oil where it's needed. Most of the performance diesel turbochargers are running with this kind of set up for durability and longevity. Along with the improved journal bearing design, you will get a much better oil flow versus the conventional 270 degree thrust bearing."

 

This was the wear on my dad's when I rebuilt it. Had to purchase a new backing plate. Funny thing is he was driving it with no issues and I found on a completely random check. His had lots of endplay.

 

Nice work and thanks for the vids! Visuals help a lot.

Reps sent!