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A whole new way to kill a turbo

Muffler Bearing

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Mar 26, 2009
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512
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Colorful Colorado
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Truck Mechanic
See what's missing? the damn lock nut came off the impeller! This is on a Cat C-10. I swear Cat should have a buy 5 get one free deal on turbos. For want of a nut, 8 yards of cement were lost. Geez..
 

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95zIV

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Mar 11, 2006
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Cincinnati, OH
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RR Contractor Super.
Just cement?

That must have been one expensive load to have 8 yards of cement in there. The good thing is that cement doesn't get all that hard be easy to get it out of the drum. Concrete would be a different story tho.;)

The concrete company I used to work for made up a auxiliary pump that has it's own motor and trailer that could be connected to the truck to offload it in case of engine or other problems. I'd try to get pictures but they just got bought out and I'm not sure if i can get in there anymore.
 

Cretebaby

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Feb 18, 2009
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E. Iowa
Just cement?

That must have been one expensive load to have 8 yards of cement in there. The good thing is that cement doesn't get all that hard be easy to get it out of the drum. Concrete would be a different story tho.;).

:lmao Good One
 

Dualie

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Feb 23, 2007
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Location
Nor Cal
well even though the turbo is shot the motor would undoubtedly still run. Dump 10 pounds of sugar in there and save the drum at least.
 

Iron Horse

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Did you find the nut ? It could get past the compressor wheel and into the engine .

I'd be worried about where it is now . Under a valve , bashed into the piston crown , or between the piston and bore making a nice little groove .:eek:
 

Cmark

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Jan 2, 2009
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Australia
From the photo, it looks like the shaft is off centre. Do you think the bearings may have failed, the compressor wheel jammed and the turbine spun the nut off?
 

special tool

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Jun 15, 2008
Messages
878
Location
Bethel, Ct.
Did you find the nut ? It could get past the compressor wheel and into the engine .

I'd be worried about where it is now . Under a valve , bashed into the piston crown , or between the piston and bore making a nice little groove .:eek:

That's the thing...
All that shrapnel got pounded in the chamber, unless there is an IC between turbo and manifold, that may have allowed it to fall out.
 

Muffler Bearing

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Mar 26, 2009
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Colorful Colorado
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The Air to air catches most of the debris, I'll look for the nut in there. Cement/concrete, I still don't get the difference and I breathe it all day. I guess I should use the proper term, "Mud". Yeah, we killed the load and poured it out. An auxilary power source would be cool, we have jumper lines to have another mixer turn it if we ever need that, but so far we have always been able to kill loads or even transfer it to another truck.

CMark, I can't say the true order of events, this is just the first time I've seen the nut gone, maybe I can do an autopsy.
 

Muffler Bearing

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Thanks, I really should have known that. I thought it was like, "motor" and "engine" or "Flammable" and "Inflammable"....whoo learned that the hard way!
 

motrack

Charter Member
Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
332
Location
Ingalls Indiana
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field service tech
the nut missing did not cause what I am seeing in that picture...... those turbo bearings are wasted and the impeller is/ was chewing on the housing.

does the turbo still spin or is it locked up? Maybe a dumb question but do you know for a fact it ever had a nut on it?

I know it sucks to have this happen but Have seen a reman turbo get thru quality control before with a missing shaft nut.
 

mudmaker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
136
Location
Colorado
Just cement?

That must have been one expensive load to have 8 yards of cement in there. The good thing is that cement doesn't get all that hard be easy to get it out of the drum. Concrete would be a different story tho.;)

The concrete company I used to work for made up a auxiliary pump that has it's own motor and trailer that could be connected to the truck to offload it in case of engine or other problems. I'd try to get pictures but they just got bought out and I'm not sure if i can get in there anymore.

That is a good one!

here is what I always want to get when I had a batch plant. They can be strapped to the fender while you tow the truck.

http://www.drumjumper.com/
 

Iron Horse

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Jun 9, 2008
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I think , if the compressor wheel suddenly bound up , the inertia of the shaft would try and tighten the nut and not loosen it .

The nut is usually a Nyloc nut , if the drivers have not been idling the engine down , the stored heat from the impellar could travel along the shaft and melt the Nylon .
 

motrack

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Nov 23, 2003
Messages
332
Location
Ingalls Indiana
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field service tech
looking at the leading edge on the impeller fins I dont see any damage to them If the nut went thru I would expect to see the leading edge of the fins damaged.
 

Muffler Bearing

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Colorful Colorado
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I found the nut up in the aircleaner. It was reverse threaded so I guess when the shaft, jarred to a stop, inertia spun the nut off and it raced up the duct and into the cleaner. Pretty wild.
 

Iron Horse

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Jun 9, 2008
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That explains a lot , Cmark was right . I couldn't remember if they were LH threads or not . I suppose when the nut hit the deck @ 20,000 revs it would take off in a hurry . Like a son asked to mow the lawn . :D
 
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