3.4L TRD Supercharger rebuild

MY Charger has approx 100,000 miles on it and doesn't seem to make any weird noises still feels pretty peppy and i've always made sure it had oil in it. I've siphoned it out and refilled a few times in this period. I'm looking to swap my SC over to another 3.4L. Should i send off to have rebuilt or just save the money and rock on??

 

Rebuild it while it's off, it will need it soon if it doesn't right now. Better to do it now while it's more convenient than to have to remove it off your truck later when it might not be so convenient.

 

Thanks @eon_blue

 

Did yours require any fuel mods? Any ping issues etc?

 

No issues it was fine and ran great with the out of the box charger. No mods or anything. i ran octane booster(periodically) and premium fuel always

 

I used to run those octane boosters as well but I learned that 99% of them (almost all of them you see for sale in gas stations especially) barely contain enough octane to make any kind of difference in a full tank. You'd need to put a dozen of them in to raise the octane by one point (from 91 to 92, for example), which of course would be way more expensive than it's worth.

There are a couple octane booster brands that you can buy online that do work well. I can't remember the name of the one that was recommended to me once but I'll see if I can find it.

 

Where would you guys recommend to send the charger to?

 

This is the octane booster to use if you really want to raise the octane level, it's called Torco

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZO3VN0?imprToken=z3Eq6KRkO.zxh2-hWeDlUg&slotNum=0&/=undefined

 

Wow thats some good stuff sounds like.

 

Where would you guys recommend to send the charger to be rebuilt?

 

I've heard good things about High Speed Labs in St. Louis, MO

https://www.thehighspeedlab.com/index.html

I think @1997tacomav6 had his rebuilt at a place in CO but I don't remember the name of it

 

[QUOTE="eon_blue, post: 21679271, member: 180213

 

Anybody know how to remove rear bearings without the blind hole puller? I have the closed rear casting they dont push through.

 

Got the bearings out had to cut the outer sleeve. Just dont know now whether it takes 4 or 8 oz of fluid? Black sec gen supercharger older model closed rear case

 

Just fill it to the bottom of the fill port like you would with diff oil. I think mine took around 7 oz but don't quote me on that. I just remember having a little leftover in the second bottle.

 

I’m pretty sure this is what your looking for

The EARLIER GREY supercharger takes a different amount I believe then the black supercharger.
This info would be for the black TRD supercharger

First thing to do is locate needed supplies
You will need:
1.**medium sized syringe without needle (an eye dropper used to medicate infants can be substituted if syringe is not available (found at any drug store)
2. 2 (two)-8 oz. bottles of supercharger oil (easiest found at Chevrolet dealership parts department)
3.Allen wrench to remove oil plug on nose cone of supercharger
4.ample supply of rags/shop towels
5.measuring cup with ounce measurement markings (can steal wife's mearsuring cup from kitchen, but do you really want to eat out of a food prep tool you recently put automotive grade oil in? )
6.clear rubber tubing to fit over syringe/eye dropper approximately 6-8" long (aquarium air tubing is about the correct diameter and is easily found sold by the foot
** you will need to approach a pharmacist to request a syringe. with todays rampant use of illegal drugs you may have a hard time convincing them of your intended use
Step 1:
prepare or build your tools needed for project by placing/affixing the rubber tubing to your extraction syringe or eye dropper. If the diameter of the tubing is not exact, you will need to figure out a way to make the connection air tight.
Step 2: with rags draped beneath the nose cone plug remove the plug with the allen wrench (my plug was already marked to illustrate the plug's exact location when fully closed and sealed. If yours is not, I suggest marking it before starting with either white out or a colored sharpie.

*It should be noted that the proper size allen wrench is needed, as the plug on the supercharger is extremely tight from the factor and if the wrench is not the exact size, the head of the plug is easily stripped.
depending on if you are working on a level surface or not, you may or may not have some oil drip upon opening drain plug.
Step 3: With syringe plunger fully DEPRESSED stick the hose into the supercharger drain hole as far as you can. Once you have the hose fully inserted, begin drawing the oil into the syringe by pulling the syringe plunger out.
Once you have the syringe full of oil release the oil into your measuring cup.
If you are having trouble sucking fluid into the syringe, probable cause is that you do not have an air tight seal between your tubing and syringe/eye dropper

Step 4: re-insert "syphoning" tool into supercharger and repeat step 3 until you are confident all residual oil is evacuated.
The measuring cup is used to notate how much oil you remove. The supercharger has a capacity of 8 fluid ounces. If you do not remove a full 8 ounces make note of how much is removed. If you begin to replace the oil and are not able to replace a full 8 oz. it means that you did not evacuate all of the oil. If you are able to replace a full 8 oz. without any overflow although you did not remove a total of 8 oz, you may want to monitor your oil level to make sure there are no leaks for a time.
*it may be necessary to move the syphon hose around inside the supercharger to get back into "hidden" cavities. (hopefully you cut the hose long enough that if it does detach from the syringe you do not loose the entire hose inside the nose cone. you want to avoid having this happen as it will be a major pain to get out. (I normally make it a practice to leave a least 1/2" of hose outside the nose cone in case it does drop off. that way I can at least grab the hose and not have to fish it out)
Step 5: once you are certain that all old oil is removed from supercharger, reverse the process. You may remove the hose from the syringe to evacuate the new oil from the bottle, but it is easier to leave tube on and submerge only the tip of the hose in the fresh oil to extract.
Once the syringe is again full with new oil, squirt new oil into supercharger nose cone via drain hole.
repeat this process until you have replaced 8 full ounces back into supercharger. see note above if you are unable to replace 8 ounces.
Step 6: replace drain plug, making sure that you line up your marks you made on the drain plug with the line on the supercharger in the fully sealed position.
Step 7: wipe away any excess oil that might have dripped. and store "tool" away for future oil changes.
I have been told directly from TRD that you should never need to replace the supercharger oil in the blower, but I replace the oil in mine at least once a year as part of my routine maintenance (typically done with one of my summer oil changes).
Please note that I have also been told by Toyota that you should never need to replace your fuel filter~that it is intended to remain in place for the life of your vehicle…but I have already replaced my fuel filter three times and my truck is a 1997. Each time I have noticed improvements in both performance and MPG. Thus illustrating/proving not everything the OEM manufacture tells you should be taken as "gospel"
More importantly pertaining to the supercharger and misinformation given by TRD: I purchased my supercharger second hand, Luckily I was curious about the "mechanics" of the unit and decided to crack open the drain plug. I discovered the nose cone completely dry of oil. I do not know if it seeped out during transport from the previous owner or if he had actually ran the supercharger without oil, but it is a good idea to check oil level before running supercharger for the initial time, especially if purchased used.
But if the supercharger was never intended to have it's oil never replaced why was mine dry upon delivery? But I digress. (point is check your oil level but do not be alarmed if it is dry initially my blower has never given my any trouble due to the lack of oil present)

 

My black TRD supercharger only takes one 4oz bottle of gear oil when I change it out. I had read two 8 oz bottles online but it barely took one. I think there might be a difference between the grey version and the black version. Or maybe it's just not possible to remove all 8oz via the syringe when changing it

 

The Grey Supercharger takes 146ML (4.94 oz) per Toyota so that's were you get 2 - 4 oz bottles need to fill.


And I attached all the supercharger documentation I have accumulated over the years. It's mostly install PDF's.

 

Okay. So my 2nd gen 40k mile supercharger suddenly making noise unlike anything I’ve read about.

It’s not knocking or rattling any more than is considered normal

It’s not making noise at idle, under vacuum, or boost. There is no play in the pulley with the belt off, by hand everything feels solid and smooth.

It’s only making a high pitched whine/squeal when I let off the gas ONLY after boost. It seems to be intermittent. And seems to be worse the more boost it takes.

if I could describe it I’d say it sounds like it’s a partially seized bearing spinning on a shaft that changes pitch with speed but works properly some of the time.

It seems to be coming from the rear so it’s probably the needle bearings if anything. Super odd.

I drove it home under vacuum and bought a stock belt. I suppose I’ll pull it off this weekend for a look inside.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Any chance it’s coming from the dynamic tensioner bearing?
I know u said it sounds like it’s coming from the back but.
.