I bet they will give you some money back or try to make it right with you.

 

Send them a copy of the picture and threaten to post it everywhere of they don't leave a suitcase full of money at the park.

 

Went to go see my diff guy today...doesn't sound good. I think I have to have both front and rear diffs gone through.

Not going to be cheap...but I trust this guy, he's passionate about what he does, and has done work for me on other projects. Never a problem with his work.

But now I have to make a decision is I'm going to stay with the 4.10's or go with 3.54's. I already have a set of Dana 70 3.54 gears that I picked up super cheap...they were removed from an original truck back in 1992 when the owner wanted 4.10's instead of the 3.54's for pulling his 5th wheel.

So since I needed to make a decision on what gears I want, I thought I'd toss on my HX35 this evening. I wanted to see how my EGT's and fuel mileage might be effected by the 12cm exhaust housing and my PS intercooler, and the 4.10's.

Everything went well until I fired it up and went for a drive. The turbo sounds like it has a very tinny whine coming from somewhere. And when I got out on the road it will not build any boost. I think once I saw about 1-2lbs...that's it!

I initial just had the waste gate wired shut. But then second guessed myself and thought maybe my problem was that I had wired it in the open position. SO I removed the wire and re-installed the wastegate actuator. Went for another drive and same problem, nothing changed.

I have been reading threads on HX35's and could not come up with anything like my problem. Any idea of what the problem might be?

 

Is the impeller free spinning, by hand with the air filter off?
Is it rubbing on the housing or have lots of movement?
Loose boots / missing clamps after turbo swap?
Shop rag in the exhaust manifold?

I would say go with 3.54s unless you see HEAVY towing becoming a regular thing with your crew.

My crew with 4.10s has 37 inch tires on it to make up for the gearing.
My other crew has 3.07s, which is great gearing for a 5 speed driver.
My other Cummins trucks are 3.54 geared and most of them tow a 10,000 trailer regularly.

 

I installed my HX35 last winter.
This spring on my first test drive I hit 37 PSI and pushed through a stock Sach clutch in 4th and 5th and blew off a intercooler boot.
Within 150 miles it was back in the shop with the NV-4500 pulled and a South Bend Clutch going in.

 

Not sure what to tell you on the turbo. I would just double check all your boots and clamps. On the gearing unless you are gonna put some bigger tires on it or tow a lot on a weekly basis, I would go 3.54. I have noticed in the 4.10 trucks I have road in its way louder in the cab running down the freeway because of the extra rpm needed to run the speed limit. That's one of the biggest reasons I went 3.07's and a 6 speed

 

I think that you will be much happier with 3.54's. With a tuned pump & 12cm exhaust housing, you can run cleanly, efficiently, smoothly, and quietly at low rpms. It'll probably pay for itself in fuel alone.

 

Thanks for all the opinions on the gearing....that is the direction I was leaning as well, and for a lot of the same reasons.

As for the turbo. Everything appears to be fine. I pulled the air intake and exhaust when it first happened. I checked and the impellers, they are nice a smooth, and do not appear to be hitting or rubbing. No major play in the shaft...little bit, but no more then my stock turbo.

That was my first thought when I went for my first drive, impeller is dragging on the housing. But even if it was doing that, it should still build boost?

 

I had a local guy run his HX35 turbo on his '95 12v until it would build NO boost.
He stopped by my shop to see if I had a spare.
I was one of the saddest looking turbos I have ever seen.
I had 3/8 of an inch of play in the impellers and just flopped around in the housings.
The fins where badly worn.
I am guessing that is NOT your problem though.

 

I bought this HX35 used off craigslist a few years ago as a rebuildable core.

Here's what I bought...



And all torn down....



I tore it down and installed one of those E-bay rebuild kits. The shaft does seem to have more play then I thought a "rebuilt" turbo should have. But not so much that it will touch the sides when I push up/down and rotate it.

 

What are you running for an air filter?

 

Stock air box with three 2" holes cut into the front side....

 

Well in the light of day it was pretty obvious what the problem was....



Tad bit of interference between the impeller and the housing..... Guess my turbo rebuilding skills still need a little work.

Now that there is wear on the intake housing, does that make the housing junk? Or if I got a new cartridge for the HX35 can I install it and be good to go?

 

I would be more concerned about the impeller. We have cleaned up and ran housings after some pretty nasty carnage. In he "hotrod days I had to deliver turbos to my dad to replace sitting along the road with a load of logs. I would take some sand paper to it and make it match the area ahead of the damage replace the cartrage and call it good.

 

Dropped the crewcab off at the diff guy to have them re-geared from 4.10 to 3.54, Power-Loc rebuilt, and both front and rear diff totally redone. They were untouched and original with almost 270K on them.

I usually don't farm out repairs like this to other people. But this guy I go to is amazing, and I trust his work and integrity. And with the diffs being so old, and never any work done to them, I did not have the luxury to have the truck down for a week of more, if I was to run into unforeseen issues.

He will hopefully have everything back up and running tomorrow.