Turning up the wick on a DK45

[Cletrac]

I have a 5 year old DK45 with about 300 hours on it. Has anyone dived into the fuel pump to turn up the power or tried adding a small turbocharger?

 

[JoelD]

Sounds like opening yourself up to nothing other than pain

 

[VictorW]

Getting the extra hp is nice but you have to know how well the bottom end is built. You'll end up putting more stress on the parts and may shorten the life of the engine. If you're looking for no more than 10hp gain, about 25% of rated, you may be ok. The price of a turbo for 10hp doesn't seem cost effective. I never played with an injector pump on a diesel.

 

[Cletrac]

I am quite familiar with the effects of upping the HP on a diesel. The DK45 and DK55 appear to have the same engine with the exception that the DK55 has a turbo, if that is the case then I would expect the bottom end to be plenty stout.

 

[Coyote machine]

What end result are you hoping to accomplish by doing the intended bump up? Is it for a specific result or more for bragging rights?
Just curious why you'd want to go to the trouble and expense?
Not saying you ought to or not....

 

[Hoosier Hay Man]

In farm country it is hard to find a used AG tractor that hadn't had the screw turned. We have a guy in our area was nick named the dyno guy. He would dyno your tractor and turn her up a bit. Usally after the warranty ran out. There was a factory seal on the pump to show if it had been tampered with. It was thought that most tractor manufactures were actually not setting the tractor at their full potential to save themselves from warranty claims. In a way I don't blame them.
Without a turbo I would imagine you won't gain as much as you would like for the amount of extra fuel you would be burning. In the old days you could put in oversize sleeves, mill you head and turn up your turbo and in most cases the bottom end would take it.:thumbsup: Nothing like a glowing manifold and a steady coned flame peeking out the top of a straight pipe late into night while plowing.
These days I would be a little more careful.
Good luck and if you decide to do it lets us know how it turns out.

 

[CurlyDave]

Just curious -- what was the cost of hot-rodding your tractor vs. the cost of just buying the next size up to start with?

 

[Ductape]

Just curious -- what was the cost of hot-rodding your tractor vs. the cost of just buying the next size up to start with?

What fun would that be ??

 

[Hoosier Hay Man]

Just curious -- what was the cost of hot-rodding your tractor vs. the cost of just buying the next size up to start with?

In the old days you could buy a M&W turbo kit which would include a turbo, larger oil pan, new manifold and all of the xtra oil lines probally for around a $1,000.

Now turning up the pump (if it is already turboed) was cheap HP. A farmer could move up a bottom on his plow and up a couple of rows on his planter. It was a cheap upgrade. Fuel was cheaper then so it was a wise business decision to increase productivity for little cost. Fuel prices now would be enough to deter me from turning up the wick.

 

[D7E]

10-20% is fine i dont think any tractor on a farm that i know has not had a tweak somewhere down the road and wev'e home turbo'd several ford 6610,Fiat F100 winner,MF6160,JD3050 with no problems ..just dont get greedy with the hp
Most find a fuel saving from addding a turbo generally as it wont be pushed to it's limit all day .