brass vs steel journal bearing
 

Im rebuilding my t25 journal bearing turbo and I was about to buy the 360 degree steel journal bearing upgrade but came across this from turborebuild.org

"The last thing I want to mention about thrust bearings is brass vs steel and why we do not use any steel thrust bearings in out turbochargers. The reason why we don’t use steel thrust bearings in our turbo chargers is because the steel does not dissipate heat well and it doesn’t make for a good “bearing material.” Steel conducts a lot of heat quickly, and when you have a metal shaft with a metal thrust collar and spacer that presses against a metal thrust bearing, then disaster can occur. For turbochargers running steel thrust bearings a special oil is necessary to keep the bearings from fusing together and causing the turbocharger to need a turbine shaft and a full rebuild as a result.

I have even taken new PTE turbochargers apart to throw away the steel thrust bearing and to replace it with a brass bearing because these turbo chargers are having a hard time not needing a rebuild before the first oil change!!"


Any experience with steel journal bearings? I wish they made a 360 degree brass bearing but I cant find any.

No experience with steel, but I just rebuilt my t25 with a g-pop kit, and the brass stuff was exactly the same as what was in there to begin with, and with how reliable these little buggers are I don't see the need to "upgrade" to change anything.

Just my .02

But let us know if you try the 360 steel setup.

I know, at least for gears in my machinery at work(bakery), they use a lot of brass gears to ensure they fail first, and not the really expensive bits. Id rather the brass parts fail rather than being so sturdy they cause a worse failure elsewhere.

My .02 cents, which as always, could be wrong.

brass also has a very low coefficient of friction vs steel. That is one of the reasons they use it in firearm cartridge cases. Steel cases require lubrication to extract properly (this is a gross simplification, chamber pressures impact this greatly as well). The brass bearing might actually last longer than steel.