Turbos Really Pay Off In The Mountains

Turbos Really Pay Off In The Mountains ENGINES Engines 33-4-34 When selling tractors for use at 5,000-ft. elevations and above, turbo chargers can help keep customers satisfied. At Penrose Manufacturing, Penrose, Colo., Joe Kahnke calls it the "grin factor". "Turbos put smiles on customers' faces," he says. Kahnke explains that for each 1,000 ft. increase in elevation a tractor can lose 3 percent of its horsepower. "Power loss seems to escalate after about 5,000 ft.," he says. "When you go from 6,000 to 7,000, you lose about 6 to 7 percent. A turbocharger takes the power back to sea level." Kahnke's son Dan builds turbocharger kits for the Kioti CK and DK series tractors that Penrose sells. He also custom-builds turbochargers for 800 cc or larger diesels of other makes. They first got the idea working with ATV's. "Guys come out here to the mountains with their four-wheelers, and by the time they get up to 10,000 ft., they don't work very well," says Joe. "After developing an ATV kit we started offering it for tractors too. Running them at higher elevations can cause them to smoke and overheat because they can't burn all the fuel. The turbocharger eliminates the smoke, and the engine runs cooler." The only modification Dan makes to the engine is to drill and tap the valve cover for a drain back from the turbo. The rest of the kit is bolted on. The whole process only takes about three hours and is equally easy to reverse. "We take the muffler out, and there's usually room for the turbocharger," says Dan. "They are very quiet, and the effect is comparable to having a muffler." The Kahnkes say prices for installed kits run from $1,500 and up. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Penrose Manufacturing, Inc., 45 10th St., Penrose, Colo. (ph 719 372-3428 or 800 748-2513; Penrosetractor_joe@yahoo.com; www.penrosetractor.com)

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