Turbo shaft play, how much is too much?

[Morkai]

I just bought a used TA-49 which I was hoping would be a bolt-on replacment for my leaky stocker, but I'm concerned about the play in the shaft. How much side to side play is normal or acceptible before a rebuild is a must? This has very little end to end movement, but some side to side, offhand I would say about 1/16" (I can get an accurate measurement if I pull the housing and put the dial indicator on it)

Supposidly this turbo was working fine and wasn't leaking. I was told to put it in and go, but I don't want to take a chance wiping it out. Normally I would just rebuild it without thinking twice, but money's tight and if I can get by it would be better.

[mike85gn]

I wouldn't trust a used turbo for a "slap-and-go", too much can go wrong. Bring it to a turbo shop and have them determine if it is OK before tempting fate, I would prefer close to no shaft play at all. I say wait, and rebuild when funds allow.

[HairDrier]

Side to side play is BAD, soon it will contact the housing and you will have big problems. In and out is not as bad, as long as its not leaking and not in danger of contacting anything.

You can probably run the turbo for a short while but you would be smart to just rebuild it.

[Morkai]

That's kinda what I was thinking...

[gnsrule]

Side to side play is BAD, soon it will contact the housing and you will have big problems. In and out is not as bad, as long as its not leaking and not in danger of contacting anything.

All turbos will have some side to side clearance, thats the nature of haveing bearing clearance. In and out is another. You want ZERO there. If its moveing in and out, you have a thrust problem thats gonna get worse before it gets better.

[HairDrier]

In and out play causes oil leaks, side to side play causes engine rebuilds. A very small amount is tolerable, but no more than say, 1/16"