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Turbo longevity

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Old Feb 12, 2008 | 11:53 PM
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Default Turbo longevity

I took my turbo off tonight to put on an ATI pulley and noticed that there is quite a bit of play on the turbo shaft.

It is a tc76 with around 5k miles. I have read that end play is normal but I can pull it to the side until the tubine blades almost rub the housing.

I wonder if I should send it in to be on the safe side? How often should a turbo be rebuilt under heavy duty use.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 01:09 AM
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yup it's prob about due. What is you oil system and what kind of oil????
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 07:47 AM
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I would think you would get much more miles than what you have on yours out of it.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 08:58 AM
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Originally Posted by nz12's
yup it's prob about due. What is you oil system and what kind of oil????

Just a normal feed & return line. I have been using royal purple 10w 30.

I will try to call Jose today & see what he thinks.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 09:32 AM
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I've never heard anything good about royal purple??
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 01:03 PM
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Your turbo's probable fine. You have it backwards, there should be almost no end play, but side to side play is very necessary in a journal bearing turbo. .018 to .022 (which feels like a LOT) is considered with in tolerance in most turbos.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 02:18 PM
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Originally Posted by kbracing96
Your turbo's probable fine. You have it backwards, there should be almost no end play, but side to side play is very necessary in a journal bearing turbo. .018 to .022 (which feels like a LOT) is considered with in tolerance in most turbos.
Yes I understand I just used a bad choice of words. There is no end play just side to side. I wish there was a way that I could measure or check the turbo to know if it's within specs. I hate for it to go bad in the middle of summer, they're too short as it is.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 05:33 PM
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A match book cover is about .015 if that helps you gauge it. What your doing with is hardly considered heavy duty use. These same type turbos run on diesels at 20+ psi and last 100k+ miles. If it's not hitting the housing, you should be fine.

My old T-60 is on another truck now and has probable 50K on it now, and still going strong.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 07:11 PM
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Cool, thanks. I'll go out & see how much clearance I have with a feeler gauge.

I'll prob put it back on tonight.
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Old Feb 13, 2008 | 07:39 PM
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Turbos on the semi's generally start failing at 250k. Some last much longer.

Only time they really fail with anything lower on em is a freak accident. Uncommon.
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