Supercharger at altitude?

Gears and a tune made my truck great to drive at altitude, then I added bigger tires and a bunch of heavy stuff. I'm back to struggling up to the Eisenhower tunnel doing 55mph @ 5k rpm when I'm towing my raft.

It sounds like the Magnuson SC kit has gotten good reviews and may be the extra punch I'm looking for to get me up the big hills. Does anyone have experience with what kind of effect altitude has on SC output? Does the power diminish at about the same rate as the regular engine?

 

Physics says the Super Charge will provide more Oxygen/ Air that is "missing" from the altitude effect here. Since this air flow is constant, should help engine performance across the board.

Someone once said with a Supercharger here in CO (guess not cranked all the way up) "gave back the power" his truck had at sea level.

 

not familiar with the altitude

SC work best low end & mid range
will suffer more top end may even reach ' Stand Off '

TURBOS work better top end...………………………………..as seen with air planes / turbo props !!( altitude + power )

 

It definitely makes the truck tow a lot better but you still have to downshift into 3rd/4th to get in the powerband of the engine but can accelerate up hill still doing 70mph. When not towing you can accelerate up most hills in 5th/6th without a problem. The highest I've taken the truck is Monarch Pass at 11,300' and there was no problem with power at all. I plan to tow my boat over Wilkerson Pass at 9500' this weekend so I can update on how that feels but frequent towing between 6-7000' has been improved with the s/c.

 

The Magnusson supercharge is a positive displacement unit which takes in a fixed volume of air in and discharges it to the other side. There is no compression of the air occurring inside the supercharge rotors, the higher manifold pressures are a result of the supercharger forcing air into the manifold faster than the engine consumes it. As the elevation increases, the mass of air contained in each volume decreases linearly with the altitude, so less air (mass) is forced in with each revolution of the supercharger, resulting in less boost. This effect gives a relatively linear decrease in power similar to what a NA engine experiences, but only once the supercharger bypass is closed. If the supercharger is large enough, it can overcome this linear decrease and keep you at target boost by holding the bypass closed longer. You can also mitigated altitude to an extent with a smaller pully which spins the supercharger faster, but you'll eventually start to run into poor efficiency and you need to be more careful when taking your truck to lower elevations.

 

That's good news...the low and mid range are what are bogged down.

Got it...so it sounds like, yes, SC power will decrease when at altitude, but it'll still be better than what I'm working with now. Thanks!

 

dont know how much the total weight IS

not sure how much HP (dynod yet ??)

im sure Ud drag my SR around

tho science says at those elevations U have lost at LEASt 10%

 

I haven't dynod it but might in the coming weeks when I have time off work. I found a local shop that will run three pulls for $100 which isn't bad.

 

Dyno pros in commerce city will let you do as many pulls as you want for an hour

 

100 or free

the only way U will KNOW

U might be able to get a reasonable gain

 

$100

 

so, twin charger setup it is

 

@RyanL runs one here in SLC and might have some input. You wont get as much punch from the SC in stock form as at sealevel, but a smaller pulley can fix that.

 

The Magnuson is excellent. I love it.

Every engine loses power at altitude because the air is less dense. I’m at about 4500’ so a 10% smaller pulley (2.7” instead of the stock 3.0”) put me to where it would be at sea level. AFE intake and TRD exhaust let the engine breathe all that forced air.

The low-end torque is where the Maggie earns its paycheck (and also is what these trucks really need). The smaller pulley added noticeably more high-rpm power.

 

@hack4875 runs the supercharger in CO, could probably offer some insight too

 

Thanks for the tag @RyanL
I have the TRD S/C, and my only comparison I can give is to my '09 which was obviously the 4.0L. Not trying to start a turd gen debate, but OP, is your truck the 4.0L or 3.5L?
My butt dyno tells me same as what you all have said, the low end is where you feel the extra hp. I don't drive the Tacoma very fast (that's for the Z ) so I don't really race it around town, but it's nice to have the extra power should the need arise. Every once in a while it's nice to put a ricer in their place from a stoplight.
I have towed some trailers and vehicles and the extra power makes it really nice and smooth. I hate vehicles that rev super loud and don't go anywhere.
OP, if the cost is not going to put you in a financial burden, I'd say go for it. It is nice to have.

 

Yessir, you're correct, I have the 3.5L. Appreciate all the feedback! Magnuson is getting a call early next week.

 

I've had the URD Supercharger on my rig since August, 2020. Been all over the east coast, also in the Ozark mountains in February wheeling in -15. This thing has held up very nicely in all those conditions.

 

@GoldenBrew

 

(2016 TRDOR V6 SBDC AT, 4.88, stock tires, 6112/5160, Magnuson SC)

Just came back from a 800 mile round-trip camping trip from base 6200 ft over mountain passes of 10,000 ft plus. Towed a camper (2250 dry weight) and a few hundred pounds of stuff. Maintaining speed limit was no problem. Truck ran cooler (transmission pan and converter, and radiator) than same trip last year when truck was NA we had a lighter camper (1700 lb dry weight). Used S mode and locked it down to 4th on long grades up Eisenhower and Vail (both directions out and back). About 3500 rpm - plenty of power as that is middle of boost (probably 8 psi). 60 to 65 mph with no issue, and able to pass without downshift. Magnuson SC made it run way better - totally different machine - no engine struggling noise (valves or other). Could not run it in s mode allowing 5th on grades - it does the oem monkey shift - so just locked it out when that began to happen. Something Magnuson will eventually fix with tune revisions. Averaged 18mpg while towing - trips btwn Palisade and Montrose/Delta not towing we averaged 23 mpg at 65 mph (pretty sure they are on Summer blend gas now which is way better for power and mpg than the Winter blend shit still being served here in Denver proper). Hands down much better than the NA engine setup.

@Kerbouchard!