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Turbo Gator 855m

back woods

Well-known member
Joined
May 21, 2020
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Has anyone here messed with turbocharging a John Deere XUV? Think I may give it a shot. There are kits available but are on average $2300 for a few pieces of plumbing and a turbo. This thing has a Yanmar 3 cylinder, 23.7hp stock. I have since turned up the fuel at the injection pump and it gave it a few hp bump. This thing is slow and underpowered for what we use it for.


This is the kit available and from what I understand is that it uses a GT12 turbo.

Diesel Turbo Kit for John Deere Gator | Side by Side Stuff

Buy a Diesel Turbo Kit for John Deere Gator from Side By Side Stuff - a leader in aftermarket intake exhaust engine performance and UTV equipment.
www.sidebysidestuff.com www.sidebysidestuff.com

Would like the keep all the shrouds for the CVT intact and retain the stock air box. A log manifold needs to be built to move the turbo into the right location for plumbing. Shooting for approx. 40hp.
 

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Built the first flange for the log manifold, it will bolt to the exhaust manifold. Was able to find 1/4" pre-cut flanges for the turbine housing and the downpipe flange for $30.
 

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Modified the crank case vent so the turbo doesn't pressurize the crank case. The small middle hole in the casting is the ccv bleed hole to the intake. It will be plugged with rtv on the surface of the plate.
 

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Pretty cool. I deal with a handful of Polaris Ranger diesels, back in the day they had Yanmars. Was always curious if adding boost to one could make it at least bearable to drive, because they are stupid slow.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Assuming the engine is kinda sorta under the rear seat, do you have any concerns of extra heat in the passenger area?
Click to expand...
Its behind the back seat by about a foot, shouldn't cause any heat issues. The cooling circuit tends to add the most heat to the passenger compartment.
 
Ordered about 80% of the parts needed to finish the setup.

Decided to got with a Garrett GT12 (clone). Here are the specs on the little guy.

turbochargerspecs.blogspot.com

Garrett GT12 - GT1241 - 130 HP

Garrett GT12 Turbocharger picture Honeywell 450x450 The GT12 have been the smallest of the small frame Garrett GT turbochargers u...
turbochargerspecs.blogspot.com turbochargerspecs.blogspot.com
 
While I am waiting for parts I am building a custom trailer for the Gator. It consists of a Generac trailer that I widened 10 inches. The frame is 1/8" 2x2 angle. Plan is to build a "6 hole" dog box on it. It will hold 6 dogs and be capable of going off road. It will also all fit in my 24' stock trailer (hopefully)
20210626_181426.jpg

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back woods said:
Ordered about 80% of the parts needed to finish the setup.

Decided to got with a Garrett GT12 (clone). Here are the specs on the little guy.

turbochargerspecs.blogspot.com

Garrett GT12 - GT1241 - 130 HP

Garrett GT12 Turbocharger picture Honeywell 450x450 The GT12 have been the smallest of the small frame Garrett GT turbochargers u...
turbochargerspecs.blogspot.com turbochargerspecs.blogspot.com
Click to expand...

Hopefully the geometry on the small knockoff turbos has gotten better. I had a 10psi difference in boost between a knockoff and genuine Garrett.

When you max the fuel out you will probably find you need to trim the shutdown solenoid plunger. Not sure what your engines governor set up is like but it's common that the rack will bottom on that before full fuel.

Next step should be some valve springs so you can get some more rpms.
 
Dethmachinefab said:
Hopefully the geometry on the small knockoff turbos has gotten better. I had a 10psi difference in boost between a knockoff and genuine Garrett.

When you max the fuel out you will probably find you need to trim the shutdown solenoid plunger. Not sure what your engines governor set up is like but it's common that the rack will bottom on that before full fuel.

Next step should be some valve springs so you can get some more rpms.
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Turbo will be here on Thursday, hoping all is good with it. Had a hard time finding many places that sold them besides china/ebay. Even finding genuine Garretts was tough. Unfortunately I think thw Garrett turbos are made in China as well.

IIRC defuel is at 3600rpm I dont plan on messing with it for now, top speed is 32mph. I want to say the fuel screw is 2 rotations out but it has been a couple years since I messed with it.
 
The gt12 has been discontinued I believe, which is unfortunate because they worked so well with these engines. Your going to be able to go much further with the fueling once it's turbocharged. The factory waste gate is set somewhere around 10psi and it will handle all of that.
 
Dethmachinefab said:
The gt12 has been discontinued I believe, which is unfortunate because they worked so well with these engines. Your going to be able to go much further with the fueling once it's turbocharged. The factory waste gate is set somewhere around 10psi and it will handle all of that.
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I remember your threads from the old site. 3cyl kubota if I remember right? What do you think a safe max boost psi would be before internal modifications are needed?
 
back woods said:
I remember your threads from the old site. 3cyl kubota if I remember right? What do you think a safe max boost psi would be before internal modifications are needed?
Click to expand...

I've done yanmar, kubota, and cat/perkins.
Boost and fueling are a complimentary arrangement. More boost burns more fuel which makes more boost where you can burn more fuel. Right now your limited by fueling being not far from stock adjustment. The factory waste gate will open around 10psi and it's probably an ok starting point. I run 30psi+ in the Kubotas.
That yanmar have a steel head gasket?The failures are usually piston meltdowns from over fueling, cracked heads from overheat and air in cooling system, lastly totally avoidable valve into piston from overspeed.
 
Dethmachinefab said:
I've done yanmar, kubota, and cat/perkins.
Boost and fueling are a complimentary arrangement. More boost burns more fuel which makes more boost where you can burn more fuel. Right now your limited by fueling being not far from stock adjustment. The factory waste gate will open around 10psi and it's probably an ok starting point. I run 30psi+ in the Kubotas.
That yanmar have a steel head gasket?The failures are usually piston meltdowns from over fueling, cracked heads from overheat and air in cooling system, lastly totally avoidable valve into piston from overspeed.
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Appears to have a multi-layer steel gasket, hard to get a good look.

This is where the fuel is at right now. Just a brake torque while it is in gear.

 
Getting further on the trailer while the turbo parts are being shipped.

20210630_170521.jpg
 
back woods said:
Starting to come together. Wasn't able to mount the turbo where I originally planned due to the drain line. Charge pipe was a little tricky but it worked out.


20210702_214819.jpg
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What did you do for the oil feed/return?
 
Dethmachinefab said:
What did you do for the oil feed/return?
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Oil feed is a T off of the oil pressure sensor port. Drain line is going into the oil pan. Original plan was to drain into the govenor housing like the kits do but it didnt work out with the placement. Didnt want to drain into the pan but was the only option with its placement.
 
Got the turbo wrapped up today. Just put a straight pipe on it for now. Holy smokes! What a difference it made. No boost gauge yet but power is up big time from what it was. Spool time is fantastic as well.

20210703_204704.jpg


Video of it running, has a nice little whistle.

 
Didnt have much room for a muffler and the straight pipe was pretty loud. Ended up picking up a Stanley tractor muffler, glasspack without fiberglass. Mounted it right off the downpipe.




20210705_185819.jpg
 
Hooked up a boost gauge, not thinking I got a dry gauge 0-15psi. The dry gauge bounces like crazy so I ordered an oil filled 0-10psi one instead. Welded a bung into the charge pipe and ran hose the length of it and it comes out in the middle of the dash. Wanted something waterproof thats why I went the mechanical route.

The fueling of this pump is more like a tractor than it is a p-pump cummins. Fuel fades out when there is no load and comes on with a load. Average unloaded driving boost is around 2.5psi. In soft sand and/or hills boost will go to 5psi. Under full load it peaked around 6.5-7psi. A better gauge will be more accurate without as much bounce. There is definitely more fuel that can be added but Im not going to get greedy.
 
Haha, a stack would be kind on neat for 5 minutes. Ended up putting an elbow after the muffler and using a v-band clamp.

20210711_203607.jpg
 
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