Got stock changing turbo exhaust housing

[BPaulsen]

Got stuck changing turbo exhaust housing

I'm not a good mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I figured changing my turbo's exhaust housing can't be too difficult. After all, it's only 4 nuts that mount it to the exhaust manifold, and 4 small bolts that hold the exhaust housing and turbo housing together.



I loosened all 8 (4+4) bolts (yeah!), and that was half the rent, so I thought.

2 of the 4 manifold nuts came off easily, but the other ones got harder to turn as I tried to get them off, most likely because of the rusted threads, and since I didn't want to break any of the manifold studs, I figured I better separate turbo from housing first to get better access to the studs.



I took off the exhaust clamp and the turbo's intake hose.

I then took off all 4 bolts from the housing, although the one on top, close to where the oil line mounts, didn't have enough room to come out all the way. I figured, as I wrench it out, I pull on the turbo to make room and separate both.



Well, the bolts are out, but just when I tried to brake turbo and housing apart, I noticed that the turbo's wheel is stuck. Something went wrong. Apparently, the thing doesn't come apart as easily.



So there I am, asking any of you who did the housing change by themselves where I messed up. For the time being, I closed the hood and started praying that I didn't kill my turbo . . .

 

[CSchafer]

I'll take a stab at it. I'm guessing that since there is not enough room for all of the bolts to come out between the center section and the housing getting them out meant you used it to separate the two a little. I believe on mine that they only hit on one side witch would mean that the housing is coked sideways on the center section now. That would make your exhaust housing hit the wheel thus jambing it up. The best way to do it is get the turbo off the truck and then while holding the turbo up by the comp housing, hit the ex housing with a hammer. It should come off with a few wacks. When you get it off check your wheel for damage but it will probably be ok.

good luck



Cade

 

[DieselBuzz]

Don't forget the oil drain line underneath. It does sound like the housing is cocked or tilted. A little heat may help the housing expand some so it may come off easier.



You did the right thing in stopping. I have made my most mistakes by getting paniced and continuing.

 

[dpuckett]

Cade's suggestion has worked for me and I have changed half a dozen or so. Once I had to get a framing hammer and use it as a prybar. I set the framing hammer in the center section, with the claws on the exh housing, front of it against the back of the backing plate for the impellar, then struck the hitting knob of the Framing hammer with another hammer. Simple fulcrum popped it all off. Of course, this was only after the requisite hour of beating and cursing at it trying to use Cade's method, which til that time had worked for me.



Almost forgot- PB Blaster is a wonder tool in itself.



Hey, I just looked at the pic- dock that man 10RWHP points for having the black listed FRAM filter on his blessed CTD Ram. Pastor Bob, where's yer stick?:-laf



DP

 

[MMeier]

And so you don't have to worry about tearing up the oil return gasket, disconnect the hose off the fitting on the block, then it slips right back on when you stick it all back together.

 

[dpuckett]

Or, use some anaerobic sealant. Dont have to worry about the gasket at all (just make sure it is all off there before applying). It is on my 92,and so far, so good.



DP

 

[BPaulsen]

Job finished

Thank you all for your kind response. Cade Schafer was actually right on the money. Called a friend who's one of those one-in-a-million mechanics who can do anything and everything, never says no and doesn't know what a problem is.

He removed the whole unit, and even after applying heat to the housing, lots of it, finally had to use a hydraulic spreader to separate the turbo from the exhaust housing. And that's after he lined it up again by putting the screws back in.

As he told me, there was no way in hell I could have separated both with the turbo still in the truck. Good news, turbo was jammed but is fine with virtually zero play. (That's the tubo Cummins wanted to replace, for $860 plus labor, btw. )



With putting one pulled out manifold stud back in, cleaning rusted threads, bolts, and nuts, and making a gasket for the oil return line, and cutting threads on one of the big stainless steel clamps and all the little stuff, even my miracle worker spent 2 hours on the job.



Well, test drive was fine, but the BBQ paint I sprayed on my new housing already started to blister. Throttle response is really much improved (16cm vs. 21 cm), but it's too early to tell how much I gained as the truck was cold and I didn't have much time to play with it.



A final word regarding the porting and polishing I did on the tubo housing. Took me less than 45 minutes with an air grinder, and it looked *****in' afterward. However, after the turbo was off the car, I noticed that the exhaust manifold's ports are also much smaller than the gasket, so it won't make much of a difference. Still, I'd do it again.



P. S.

Got lucky and found a BANKS exhaust system with K&N brand new in the box, on eBay (got discontinued for the 1st. gen. trucks in 2002). Seller was happy to sell it to me outright, only an hour after it appeared. Now that's $99 bucks well spent, and I'm picking it up coming weekend to save the $50 shipping charges!

 

[Forrest Nearing]

this is why I recomend just putting a different turbo on... if on a budget, start with an HX35... either install it with the wastegated 12cm housing or put a housing on it.



not because I'm a fuddy-duddy, but I've broken down a LOT of old turbos and I know the pitfalls that are out there!

 

[BJMarshall]

I was hoping I would have problems when I was just working on mine so I would have a reason to put on a new turbo. No such luck. A little heat and it came right apart. Most of the ones I have done came apart relatively easy with some heat, but the ones that didn't were a real pain.

 

[KMUNCASTER]

i had same problem

I ran into the stuck housing deal on my swap also. Someone here gave me a tip about using bolts and nuts to jack the two housings apart... . worked slick...



I have to tell y'all that the 16cm housing has not really done much for my truck. It worked well before, and I was expecting a noticeable improvement... . well, not anything to brag about. I have just got my EGT and boost guages from Geno's, once they're installed, I can turn the pump up, then maybe it will all be worth it.



Just the same, I love the old goat..... she's workin' everyday and askin' for more... never thought I'd love a Dodge... but hey, I do !!! The girls at the Tim Horton's drive thru hate what it does to their ears on the speaker... . lol :-laf



hey now..... have a good one !!

 

[CSelman]

I too had the same problem.

For anyone who does this swap, learn from my stupidity. I didn't stop turning the bolt thinking it would eventually pop the housing off. I was right, but in the process of doing so the exhaust turbine jammed into the 18cm housing and bent the shaft on my turbo. So I had to find a new one on ebay-280$ mistake. But it did come with a 16cm housing.

 

[WestonsssDiesel]

You need to replace that Fram oil filter, cummins has had bad luck with them, replace it with a Mopar or Fleetguard

 

[JFlagg]

You need to replace that Fram oil filter, cummins has had bad luck with them, replace it with a Mopar or Fleetguard

Whats the # for the Fleetguard? I've had Frams on mine ever since day one, didn't know my truck didn't like 'em Ready to do an oil change anyway... .

 

[JLEONARD]

You can use the LF3894 aka "stratopore".

 

[JFlagg]

Will the FF5108 fit our trucks?

 

[dpuckett]

Judging by the "FF", I'd say it is a fuel filter.



FLeetguard numbers-

LF3349- standard cellulose

LF3552- Microglass

LF3894- Stratopore



The stratoppore and microglass are rated for the same efficiency at 10 and 30 micron; the stratopore is just a more consistent media, according to pics in the magazine a while back.



Daniel

 

[JFlagg]

Judging by the "FF", I'd say it is a fuel filter.



FLeetguard numbers-

LF3349- standard cellulose

LF3552- Microglass

LF3894- Stratopore



The stratoppore and microglass are rated for the same efficiency at 10 and 30 micron; the stratopore is just a more consistent media, according to pics in the magazine a while back.



Daniel

You're right, I found a case of them on Ebay and they were advertised as oil filters, but I found one picture that was clear enough to read the said, it said fuel filter. Thanks

 

[Hunter4x4]

What makes ths web site great is that if you need to do something on your truck ninetyeight times out of a hundred you can find what you need without even having to post and ask the question!!



Having said that, I'm still gonna throw my two cents worth in post-upgrade comments!!



I've had a 14cm non-wastegate housing on the shelf for about two and a half years now, and with the recent transmission upgrade it was time for the install. This post basically told me everything I needed to know!



In my particular application, the teardown went fairly smooth - the comments here were helpful. The toughest part was the 4 turbo housing to exhaust bolts - they were tough! The hardest part on a couple of them was the fact that you could see 'em but they were hard to get to! The right wrenchs, some PB Blaster and some heavy leverage finally got 'em!! I was fairly impressed with the fact that on a 16 year old truck everything came apart fairly smoothly!! TYJ!



The rest of the tear down went fairly simple - I tried to separate the exhaust housing and center section on the truck, but after a re-read this post I realized that WASN'T happening!!



Once I got the housing and center section on the bench I found that the two pieces simply weren't going to separate nicely!! I worked it for about 45 minutes with the PB Blaster and a big brass hammer but nothing was moving. So I soaked it real good, came back a couple hours later, and worked it another 30 minutes or so - nothing. So I soaked it some more and left it overnight.



I hit it with the PB Blaster twice the following morning before going at it again, and around 11:00 or so I went to work with the hammer and PB.



This time I backed the center section bolt onto the exhaust housing and began the beatings again! This time after a few minutes I could see I was finally making some headway (even though I need dial calipers to do it!!), and after a few more minutes, and keeping that bolt tight, the housing finally broke, but it was cocked on the center section (i. e. , the turbine wouldn't spin - oh-oh!).



Learning from the experience of others above (!!) I backed the bolt off, tapped the housing back onto the center section, hit it with some more PB, and this time using gentle taps (NOT what I was doing up to this point - you gotta hit that sucker to get it free!!) it dropped it right off onto the bench with no problem!



Re-assembly was fairly non-eventful. I made sure that all bolts were re-torqued sufficiently, and to replace the oil return gasket I simply used 'gold' hi-temp RTV and haven't had a leak.



The only major re-assembly issue was that the 14cm housing output is about 3/4" longer than the stock 21cm housing, which pushes the down pipe into the heater core cover. There's a heat shield on the down pipe, but I put a 9x6 piece of sheet metal as additional heat shield on the heater core cover. After driving it around and checking there is no problem with any kind of heat/burn/melting issues.



There were also some exhaust pipe alignment issues down under, but a big pry bar was able to get everything so it would line up!! I have a 4" system on order which will correct the downpipe and alignment issues, so the these changes are only temporary!



The new turbo housing definitely spools up quicker and peaks out a little higher - prior this truck would top out at 14 psi - maybe 15 - and now I see 18 regularly, and sometimes 19, even 20 psi. The truck doesn't come off the line any quicker, but once you're rolling you can tell it's coming on stronger! The best way I can tell is when getting on it to get onto the expressway, and when I used look down at the speedo and see 60-65 mph, I now see 65-70 mph!



Good truckin' all - I know this will help some one!!



Mike