HX35 compressor & housing stuck... Ideas?

[forcefed86]

So I just bought an hx35. It has the BEP housing already installed. It has a tad more shaft play than I like to see side-to-side. But no rubbing and no in-out play.

I want to tear it down and inspect everything before I install it. Can't seem to get the comp wheel off the shaft. Tried heating it with map gas, wrapping a rag around it and turning it. It actually turned a good 180 degrees or so getting more and more difficult as it went. Now I can't get to to budge. I repeated this 4-5 times using PB blaster the entire time with no luck. The housing is also rusted to the center section. Tried heat and oil on that as well with no luck. I gave up in fear of breaking it and left it to soak.

Any suggestions?

Turbo was VERY dirty. Actually cleaned up pretty nice. Cleaned a few nicks out of the blades and gave it a good wash.

Thanks all...

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[Jeff99GS]

GENTLY tap it with a rubber hammer in a side to side pattern making sure its not krooked or coming off at and angle. If you can rotate it then you are getting close. I bet its just not coming off straight and evenly.

How did you clean nicks out of the blades? did you file it or something? If you removed any material from the blades the turbo will need re-balanced.

 

[bastarddsm]

brass hammer gently on the end of the shaft.

 

[seattleshawn]

You need to get the turbine housing off first. My HX 40 was rusted to the housing too. I soaked it with auto transmission fluid. (read up on it if you have never heard of this). I then made some hardwood wedges to separate them. After that you should be able to tap the shaft out. I would not recommend using a brass hammer though.

 

[turboglenn]

Yea, you should definitely have the turbine housing off when trying to seperate the rotating assemble from the center section. I like the wood wedges but those scare me in the aspect of bending a fin in the process. A brass hammer is a great tool for things like this because the brass is softer than most metals (in this case steel) and will deform before the piece you're using it to tap on (turbine center shaft in this case) what i would do is leave the nut over the threads at least 3/4 of the way or flush with the top of the shaft if possible (as long as there's slack left to start the shaft pushing out of the compressor wheel) and hole the center section steady (maybe in a vide with a rag around it or something) and then tap on it lightly with the brass hammer.

The small indentation in the turbine shaft can be used to place a dull punch in and then use a hammer to strike that (keeps you from hitting the threads during your tapping) These types of divots are usually meant for just this purpose (or for using an air hammer with punch shaped attachment in) although i woldn't use an air hammer for fear of it jumping and busing the compressor wheel to death.

either way, take your time, soaking and heating are both good so don't give up on those just yet either, utlize them with the tapping/hammer/punch or whatever method you use, and just be patient (growing frustrated has lead to the death of many parts in my hands and many others when a few more minutes of gently working the peice would have gotten it off in one piece)

 

[big_d]

Use the bolts that hold the turbine housing on to your advantage. Wedge something between the top of the bolt and the center section and use a wrench to turn the bolt head. Do this on all turbine housing bolts and it should come off easily (and you don't run the risk of damaging the turbine by using a hammer)

 

[mike96]

I soaked it with auto transmission fluid. (read up on it if you have never heard of this).

I have never heard of using auto trans fluid before. Brake fluid yes but not auto trans fluid.

 

[forcefed86]

Use the bolts that hold the turbine housing on to your advantage. Wedge something between the top of the bolt and the center section and use a wrench to turn the bolt head. Do this on all turbine housing bolts and it should come off easily (and you don't run the risk of damaging the turbine by using a hammer)

Thats a great idea... the bolts used are pretty short short though and the bolt holes are pretty shallow. Have to be careful not to strip them.

Thanks for the ideas all. I'll get the thing apart eventually.

Oh... we use to soak seized engines in autotrans fluid to free them up all the time. DUmped a half qt down each spark plug hole and wait a few days. Worked great.

 

[talonDSMerr]

Using the same concept as backing out the bolts, what I've done in the past to separate the turbine housing from the center section is use 4 bolts with 4 hex spacers. Thread the bolts into the hex spacers so they fit between the turbine housing and CHRA. Then, back the bolts out of the spacers until its snug between the the housing and center section and from there, slowly continue backing the bolts out. This method has yet to fail me, and the "tools" are very cheap and accessible!

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[JusMX141]

Sometimes it can take a lot of heat to remove a stuck wheel from the shaft.

Be sure you're heating the wheel and not the shaft, and NEVER tap directly on the shaft itself or it will bend. Clamp the turbine-side into a bench vise and try turning the compressor wheel off the shaft with a rag and a glove once it's well-heated.

 

[forcefed86]

I used the hex spacer method, worked like a charm. glad I took it apart before running it. The turbo looked and felt great. Unfortunately this is what I found on the inside.

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Looks like a piece of the BEP housing started deforming and taking out the blades? Or previous owner shot some big material through it. Strange there was no resistance spinning the turbo by hand. It felt great.

Luckily the seller agreed to refund my money and take the turbo back. I picked up a pro HX40 in great shape for $340. Overkill I know, But the HX35's are getting more and more expensive these days.

Thanks for the help all...

 

[TurboAnything]

I have seen a few BEP housings do this. It is sad to think that the housing is now trash but it is.

 

[JusMX141]

Housing erosion will do that- Bullseye has since revised the housing to not come to such a thin, sharp point at the inducer entry like your older BEP example.

Excessive EGT's will do this to virtually any turbo as well.