HX 40 blues/Majestic

[Bob Wagner]

Originally posted by csutton7:

I pushed her a little-boost to 32lbs and she went down faster than a bunch of hookers on a guy with a million bucks fallin' out of his pockets-----chris

Very funny!!! keep the faith #ad



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living the american dream and searching for more REAL horsepower

 

[Marco]

I think I've got it!
You baby them too much!
Mine wasn't prelubed at all. Fired it and took it out for a HARD ride just to see how it works. #ad

Marco.

 

[csutton7]

I just called them and they're tearing into her now--but they're short handed so they may not get back to me until Monday--I know it doesn't take to long to open the thing up, so we'll see -chris

 

[Vaman]

I don't think you did anything wrong. Another guy with a Majestic drove his TWO miles and it blew up. I prelubed my stock HX-40 before completing the installation and then just gave it a few minutes warm up. I then proceded to use it. The thing sounds like a jet engine with the psychotty. I feel your frustration... hang in there and keep us informed.

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98. 5 2500, 24v, 5 speed, QC, 4x4, 4. 10 LSD, short bed, Line-X liner, tow package, camper suspension, Westin nerfs, camper shell, TST PowerMax Competition, 275 RVs, Psychotty air, HX-40, 4" straight pipe exhaust, ProComp A/T 305/70/R16s, EGT/Boost pillar gauges... Love my Cummins, no love for Dodge

[This message has been edited by Vaman (edited 04-06-2001). ]

 

[timd]

please keep us posted on the results

 

[Briar Hopper]

After WEEKS of phone calls (thanks to my son and Stack'd & Jack'd) I think it's finally over... I received a refund check from Majestic yesterday. I paid $285 to them originally,and after shipping the cost was $311 total... well, the refund check was for $267. Whatever. AFAIK, I believe they sent a check to sport bike also, for the cost of the 2nd turbo he sent me...
Unbelievable. Never thought I'd see the day a Texan, of all people, would forget the Golden Rule.

 

[Shrimpy]

Glad you got something back. I agree they should have made it right to the last penny. I don't understand companies that look no further than their next rebuild. They could have had a goldmine here with folks buying their turbos and just us regulars maybe having some machining done. Even those who don't bomb could have been a lucrative rebuild business outlet for them.

I live in Texas and will not be doing business with them thats for sure. I have seen them at different auto events in the Houston area at times. Boy will they get an earful the next time I see them at an event.

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92 Ext. Cab, Auto trans. , 3. 54 Non-LS, Isspro Tach, 16 cm housing, PW injectors, no name 3 Gauge cluster, 230,000+ miles, straight pipe, old and abused but still running strong!!!!

 

[csutton7]

Briar Hopper--that's good news/bad news(refund not = to out of pocket), I should know tomorrow, but since they took care of you-finally-they'll hopefully do the same for me---my hopes have risen a little now, but not to much----chris

 

[timd]

chris keep us posted please

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98. 5 2500 RED SLT QCAB AUTO 3. 55 Towing Pakage Limited Slip SWB 2WD

 

[Bake]

Chris and Briar,
Man I feel your pain. I am the one who has gone through 2 Majestic HX-40's and lived to tell about it...

Sorry about the long post, but I need to share some info with the group.

#1 Filled it with oil and let it idle per Kevin's instructions. It started making a howling noise like a pack of coon dogs. The turbo locked up 2 miles from the shop, EGT's went through the roof. Pulled over and the impeller was hitting the compressor housing, lots of play. I limped back in, pulled it, and sent it out to Majestic the next day... .

#2 Sportbike picked up the tab on a new turbo, hoping that Holset would warranty the 1st one. This guy's a class act. Majestic balanced and machined out the 2nd one and sent it down. This one started hitting the housing at 20psi boost within . 5 miles of the shop. Same impeller to housing contact. I pulled it of and sent it back to Majectic again. Bake was not a happy camper.

#3 The turbo was in good enough shape to rebuild. Majestic said that only the front bearing failed, indicating that it was not a balance issue. An unbalanced shaft would have torn up both of them. They rebuilt and balanced it again, and this time I had them go to an 18. 5cm housing. I've had it on for a week @ 41psi and it seems to be holding up well. If they are going to break, it seems they will do it very early on (in most cases). I gave this one full fuel after putting around with it instead of babying it because I didn't want to change a broken turbo out in the middle of South Texas.

My initial thought was that the center bearing housing was cast bad from the factory and was blocking oil flow to the bearings. However, since I am running the same turbo now that I burned up in #2 (minus new bearings, shaft, and hot housing) that may not be the case. A run of bad bearings? Mabye.

I ate all of the shipping costs to Majestic and had to rent a car for 1 week the truck was out. Fortuantely, Majestic only billed me for the initial machining and bullets, not for the subsequent rebuilds. Good thing SB had a good deal going on the 40.

All 3 of the turbos were not clocked, nor were the wastegates set. I am currently running with the wastegate disabled.

Thorugh all of this, Sportbike was there all the way. I had to take Majestic's word for the failure anaylisis since I do not work on them day in and day out. I am hoping that for myself and the TDR brotherhood that I just got ahold of some bad bearings, and that if they are gonna fail, they will do it right after installation, not on the highway or on the track.

The 18. 5 still spools up just as fast as the old 35/16 non wastegated. Nothing some delivery valves won't cure. But for now, the crisis seems to be over.

Why didn't I just put the old turbo back on? My shop is 150 miles down the coast and I did not want to chop up the 4" turbo to tail that I had welded in. Call me crazy, but thats the way it worked out.

Bake out.

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FTAC'99, 1995 4X4 single cab, #5 TST, 370's, Centerforce, HX-40, Psychotty, 4" turbo to tail

 

[csutton7]

Bake--YOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHH!!!!! 3rd time's a charm I hope in your case--I talked to Kevin @ Majestic and they said they're going to replace it, but they needed to talk to Sportbike first--I hope they hooked up today--I need to call them tomorrow to decide if I want a bullet on the cold side(I think I may pass on that) and also if I want to use a 35 cold side housing machined out that way I can use a silencer ring if I want, evidently there's not enough meat to add a groove in the 40 housing for the ring---so tomorrow should be the day of reckoning----weircummin, thanks for calling me today and talking to me, I really appreciated ito----chris

[This message has been edited by csutton7 (edited 04-10-2001). ]

 

[WeirCummin]

Bake, Glad to see you've joined the ranks of the TDR and that the third time is a charm. I guess I should have paid closer attention to the area code when I called you. Had no idea you were in TX, we'll have to get together. I have to agree sportbike is one of the most upstanding gentleman I've ever dealt with. Thanks John.
Chris, It was good taking to you today and able to put some of your fears to rest. You should have no concerns about having bullets put on the rebuilt turbo. As we dicussed, mine is set up the same way as yours and I've not had a problem in the 5K miles since it was installed and I by no means baby it, 42psi. If you can handle the noise of the turbo with the PSA, then I wouldn't have them machine out a 35 housing. As a daily driver the noise was to much for me and having the housing with a silencer has made the truck more pleasurable to drive. Just a matter of personal preference.
I have alot of faith in the work Majestic does. They have rebuilt two WH1C's and a HX35 for me with absolutely no problems and I'm taking another 35 up on Wednesday to be done, not to mention the rock&roll 40 on my truck. They work on or rebuild 15 to 20 turbos a day and if they were screwing up as bad as some people on this board suggest they would have had to shut there doors. Talking with Kevin and sportbike, Holset seems to have more than there share of failures with the HX40. That may explain the wholesale price increase of $300 to cover the cost of warranty coverage.
As for all of the different price quotes and charges. I think the problem is some of ya'll have dealt with Mike in the Dallas shop. All of the work is done in Waco and it could be Mike is misquoting prices. I will sit down with Kevin and get firm prices on the different modification and post them. There also seems to be a problem with wastegate setup and clocking, I will address these on Wednesday.
Dean

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Y2K(BD. 11. 18. 99)PW7A BE2L34,(A4OP=ETC/DDX),DMDP w/DSA,AHJ,Autometer Pyro& 50#Boost,STD. PE&EZ,sportbike injectors, PSA, Majestic HX40,4"exh. w/Stan's downpipe

[This message has been edited by WeirCummin (edited 04-10-2001). ]

 

[John_P]

Bake:

Thanks for the excellent "write up"
on the HX-40! I want to put one in
my truck but all these "problems"
everyone has had is disturbing.

-------
Tom ("Briar Hopper"):

I am glad to hear you got some of your
money back Tom!! BTW, how is that TST
HX-40 holding up?

------
John_P

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Red '96 4x4 2500 Auto 3. 54, TST #5, Major Pump Mods(By "Scheid Diesel") 370 Diamond B Injectors, Gov. Spring kit, AFC Spring kit, Banks Exhaust, Prime Loc, Cummins Chrome Kit,Psychotty Air Filter, Pro-Torque Converter, BD Valve Body, BD Pressure Loc, Isspro Gauges, Sendel 16" Alum Wheels w/ 33" BFGs

 

[Vaman]

Bake, really glad to see you're up and running again. Briar, pretty much same to you. I hope what I'm about to say doesn't p*ss anyone off but it probably will. In Holset's defense, have there been ANY bearing or clearance related failures on stock turbos? We've had 3 or 4 from Majestic? I know there are some success stories from Majestic but the fact is they're charging almost half the cost of a new turbo (depending on who you talk to) to enhance it and there have been several immediate failures. My . 02

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98. 5 2500, 24v, 5 speed, QC, 4x4, 4. 10 LSD, short bed, Line-X liner, tow package, camper suspension, Westin nerfs, camper shell, TST PowerMax Competition, 275 RVs, Psychotty air, HX-40, 4" straight pipe exhaust, ProComp A/T 305/70/R16s, EGT/Boost pillar gauges... Love my Cummins, no love for Dodge

[This message has been edited by Vaman (edited 04-10-2001). ]

[This message has been edited by Vaman (edited 04-10-2001). ]

 

[Arcticat]

VaMan, you are right on the money. The fact is there are lots of guys on the board that have HX40's, and I have yet to hear of one failure on one that wasn't worked on by Majestic (not counting shaft failure from overboost). I have talked to Kevin and have had the procedure he did to my turbo explained in detail. I will admit that I wasn't exactly clear on what they do, and I think most people who had theirs done didn't know either. That's not Majestic's fault, and I think the mystery of what they do has contributed to the aprehension. In any case, after getting a better understanding of what they do, I don't see in theory a problem with any of their procedures causing reduced durability, providing the turbo is reassembled properly. So I am going to install mine and see what happens. If it blows up they will get it in the mail and I'll give up on the idea of reduced lag and just use a stock HX40.

And also I wanted to agree that sportbike is a class act, and he has done way more to help people than is his obligation. He is not affiliated with Majestic, nor does he have a "connection" with them or get special deals on his stuff. He pays for the service like the rest of us. He sells the HX40 at an unbelievable discount over what others do (and at least in DD's case, actuall provides a better prep job IMHO), and he recommended to me that I have the Majestic treatment because he has had good luck with it. What I did with that advice was my own business, and I won't expect him to do anything on my behalf if mine blows up. Chris, Briar, and Bake, I hope this unpleasant sage is over/will be over soon for all of you. Thank you for speaking honestly about it to benefit the rest of us.

 

[Vaman]

Ditto on Sportbike (John)... forgot to mention that the first time.

 

[csutton7]

the replacement turbo should be here next week----chris

 

[HEMI®Dart]

Piers had his HX-40 blow up yesterday. At only 40 psi. #ad



"And as I just came back home on the back of a Ford tow truck tonight after my HX40 blew up, I'll be putting one of these puppies back on my truck so I can do some more beating on it.
%#$@ HX40 blew sky high at only 40lbs boost, I had the hybred one on before and pulled over 50lbs boost with no trouble, now Dave is testing it. I put an HX40 that had been modified with a 360 degree thrust & a bigger shaft, hopeing that would cure the HX40 blues... . it didn't
Rob you're right about putting it on the 24v forum, I just want to put it behind a standard transmission & in a hotter climate for more testing before they go out. "



[This message has been edited by HEMI®Dart (edited 04-10-2001). ]

 

[timd]

back to the top

 

[WeirCummin]

An update on Chris Suttons Turbo. I have had his turbo on my truck since last Friday and wanted to wait a few days before I put that turbo in my mouth (instead of my foot). First off, Chris no problems. I've put a few hundred miles on it and been regularly running it up to 35/42Lbs. of boost. I don't have enough fuel to get it to 45psi. Looks like we have a winner. It will be coming off torward the end of the week and shipped out to you on Friday.
Now to the possible cause of the turbo failures. On all of the turbos that have failed recently there seems to be the same recurring problem. What looks like a lack of lubrication to the turbine side bearing. Now if there was truely a lack of oil, both bearings should show the same damage, but the compressor bearing always looks good. After scratching heads, puzzled a while, my turbo which has not failed was taken apart for comparison. A few measurements later and a common link came up. On the ones that have taken a crap, the turbine end of the shaft is . 0003 to . 0005 larger than the compressor side. This may well be within specs. But if you factor in the heat we generate (Thermal Expansion) EGTs come up quick before boost kicks in, along with the RPMs the turbo is turning and not enough oil is getting through the bearing fast enough to cool and lubricate. I hope this is going to be limited to the few turbo that have failed, only time will tell.
While my turbo is off and torn down. I am having an H1E compressor wheel installed along with removal of some of the material from the back sides of the wheels. This should help reduce lag and increase low end boost. I have confidence in the work that is being done. If it does blow up, "I AM MY OWN WARRANTY STATION"

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Y2K(BD. 11. 18. 99)PW7A BE2L34,(A4OP=ETC/DDX),DMDP w/DSA,AHJ,Autometer Pyro& 50#Boost,STD. PE&EZ,sportbike injectors, PSA, Majestic HX40,4"exh. w/Stan's downpipe

[This message has been edited by WeirCummin (edited 04-17-2001). ]