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By Lucas Deal, Associate Editor lucasdeal@randallreilly.com Remanufacturing Update A look at turbochargers I n this installment of the Reman Update, Betsy Ballard, director, product development and growth for Detroit Diesel Remanufacturing, LLC., and Thom Miles, manager, sales and marketing, North American Aftermarket for BorgWarner, discuss remanufactured turbochargers. What is involved in the The core of a turbocharger must be suf���ciently remanufacturing of cleaned and stripped of damaged components before heavy-duty turbochargers? entering the remanufacturing process. Ballard: Turbos are disassembled in a non-destructive fashion and given an process involves an examination and initial cleaning. The components are validation of every reclaimed part of the then tested to see if they are acceptable turbo. High-wear parts such as bushing for reuse. Some components are always bearings, piston rings, rubber O-rings, replaced with new ones while others are etc. are replaced. It should be noted that inspected for irreparable damage. ComBorgWarner remanufactured turboponents that can���t be ���xed are replaced. chargers travel down the same assembly Detroit Reman determines which of lines as its new turbochargers. This its extensive recovery processes will be guarantees the same quality standards as most effective in returning a component new turbochargers, with all of the latest to OEM specs and standards. Processes upgrades and engineering re���nements. may include a number of machining Dynamic core balancing is integrated operations or adding material to worn into the reassembly phase in order to imparts. Often we are able to incorporate prove quality and increase component life. the latest design changes from the OEM Are there any new developments in into the part. turbocharger remanufacturing? Finally, the turbos are reassembled Ballard: Adding metal to wear and and tested to ensure they are of the highclearance surfaces has advanced considest quality. erably over the past ���ve years. EquipMiles: Upon receiving turbocharger ment is now able to reach tighter/smaller cores, they are sorted, fully disassembled areas and is more versatile with respect to and the subcomponents are 100 percent the recovery of alloys. By adding material inspected. These subcomponents are back onto surfaces, we are able to restore sent through a reclamation process to components to like-new tolerances. determine if they should go through our In addition, there are signi���cant remanufacturing process. changes to remanufacturing variable The next step in the quali���cation 22 T R U C K PA R T S & S E R V I C E | TPS0213_Remanufacturing.indd 22 geometry turbos (VGTs). The vanes needed for the VGT require a different process and equipment because they must be calibrated to match the computer on the engine. Miles: New high-volume deep salvage techniques always are under development and existing techniques are re���ned. Many turbos going through our remanufacturing process are installed on late-model emissions compliant engines. Turbochargers ���tted to these engines contain sensors, electronics and an increased amount of high-tolerance parts outside of the turbo rotating assembly. This creates a challenge for a quali���ed remanufacturer and a more signi���cant hurdle for the local rebuilder. In order to provide a remanufactured turbocharger that will operate reliably in a hostile operating environment, access to source materials, test equipment and original speci���cations is a necessity. What are the bene���ts of remanufactured turbochargers? Ballard: One of the bene���ts of a February 2013 1/23/13 2:15 PM