Colorado_High
Member
Thanks for the very informative comments on the forum about turbocharging, as well as many other topics. I recently had the opportunity to drive two 2016 Kubota RTV X1100c vehicles, one with and one without a turbo. This brief test was at Southwest Ag. in Bayfield, Colorado at 6900', and included a couple of moderate hills. Since my property is at 8500', I was interested in evaluating the turbocharger effect at a relatively high altitude.
The turbocharged vehicle was much more responsive in getting up to speed, and climbed the hills quicker. I did not monitor the smoke emissions sufficiently carefully to make much of an assessment, but I did not notice excessive smoke with either vehicle. The turbocharged vehicle was slightly quieter than the non-turbocharged vehicle, but I think the mufflers were different, and neither would be rated as quiet.
The turbocharged vehicle had not only a turbocharger, which, by itself, would only reduce smoke but not affect performance significantly, but also increased fueling and slightly advanced injection timing, and increased pressure in the hydraulic transmission. The improved performance was significant enough to me, and since my application is at such high altitude, that I ordered the turbocharged vehicle.
Older generations of this RTV had problems with overheating the hydraulic fluid, and since the hydraulic fluid shared the cooling system with the engine, the engine could overheat. Adding turbocharging and increasing hydraulic pressure should only aggravate this overheating. The current generation has a separate cooler for the engine and transmission, so hopefully this will reduce problems of overheating when turbocharging. The stock turbo system does NOT include an inter-cooler, although this could also reduce in-cylinder engine temperatures, and reduce chances of piston damage. I may consider adding temperature and pressure instrumentation to better monitor what is going on in the turbocharged system.
I also ordered up a Boss V-Plow, so now looking forward to some snow.
The turbocharged vehicle was much more responsive in getting up to speed, and climbed the hills quicker. I did not monitor the smoke emissions sufficiently carefully to make much of an assessment, but I did not notice excessive smoke with either vehicle. The turbocharged vehicle was slightly quieter than the non-turbocharged vehicle, but I think the mufflers were different, and neither would be rated as quiet.
The turbocharged vehicle had not only a turbocharger, which, by itself, would only reduce smoke but not affect performance significantly, but also increased fueling and slightly advanced injection timing, and increased pressure in the hydraulic transmission. The improved performance was significant enough to me, and since my application is at such high altitude, that I ordered the turbocharged vehicle.
Older generations of this RTV had problems with overheating the hydraulic fluid, and since the hydraulic fluid shared the cooling system with the engine, the engine could overheat. Adding turbocharging and increasing hydraulic pressure should only aggravate this overheating. The current generation has a separate cooler for the engine and transmission, so hopefully this will reduce problems of overheating when turbocharging. The stock turbo system does NOT include an inter-cooler, although this could also reduce in-cylinder engine temperatures, and reduce chances of piston damage. I may consider adding temperature and pressure instrumentation to better monitor what is going on in the turbocharged system.
I also ordered up a Boss V-Plow, so now looking forward to some snow.