Originally posted by Loco Honkey@Apr 19 2004, 11:26 AM
There is a shitload of misinformation going around regarding shaft play. Every goddamn Ebay post has "no shaft play" as part of the description. This is great... if it's a ball bearing turbo. However, 99% of all turbos out there are not ball bearing, but floating bearing turbochargers, they indeed will have shaft play. In fact, they come from the factory like that. See, with a floating bearing, you need some shaft play to absorb the cyclic oscillations of the shaft as it spins upwards of 100,000 RPM. If it didn't, the shaft would break. The only way time the shaft play will be excessive is if the turbine wheel or compressor wheel hit the housings. If they don't hit, the turbo is good. Also, the ammount of shaft play will NOT affect how the seals do their job.