IH 186 Hydro w / Turbo

[Rick G.]

A friend of mine in Wisconsin  recently bought a 186 Hydro which had been retrofitted with a turbo. He says it looks just like a factory turbo installation outwardly. Even the exhaust pipe hole in the hood. I asked him to send me some pics.

I told him maybe it’s had an entire 414 or 436 engine transplant like out of a 1066, 1466, 1566, 1086, 1486, or 1586?

This got me to wondering- Why didn’t IH put a turbo on the 186 from the factory? After all, their other large frame Hydros had turbos- ie the 1026, and later the 1066 Hydro. 

But did the Hydro 100 have factory turbo? In my old age now, I’m forgetting certain details on things at times. 

 

[snoshoe]

1486 parts fit. We could buy manifold, turbo, all the piping and even the air cleaner through IH parts cheaper than an M and W kit at the time.

[Illini986]

Seems like I read somewhere why IH decided to ditch the DT-414 for the D-436 for the Hydro 100 when it replaced the 966 Hydro and 1066 Hydro but I can't remember where. Displacement maybe? FWIW the 3488 didn't get a turbo either, far as I know it's the only application for a D-466. 

[766 Man]

  Cheaper to build without a turbo and times while not extremely tough demanded that IH find ways to improve the bottom line.  

[Jacka]

10 hours ago, Rick G. said:

A friend of mine in Wisconsin  recently bought a 186 Hydro which had been retrofitted with a turbo. He says it looks just like a factory turbo installation outwardly. Even the exhaust pipe hole in the hood. I asked him to send me some pics.

I told him maybe it’s had an entire 414 or 436 engine transplant like out of a 1066, 1466, 1566, 1086, 1486, or 1586?

This got me to wondering- Why didn’t IH put a turbo on the 186 from the factory? After all, their other large frame Hydros had turbos- ie the 1026, and later the 1066 Hydro. 

But did the Hydro 100 have factory turbo? In my old age now, I’m forgetting certain details on things at times. 

 

No,no turbo on the H100.I would like to put a turbo on my H100 just for fuel economy, the extra power out of the 436 would be a pleasant addition though.I been looking for a wrecked or junk 1066,1086 or 14 for the turbo and equipment.

[HydroTek]

Owner of the local dealership has had a turbo on his H100  since shortly after it was new ... Mostly pulls a bat wing mower with it 

[TroyDairy]

I believe they figured the hydro was at its max HP.  Turbo would push over with the hydro cooling ability it had.  NOW thats assuming heavy tillage.  Chopping or baling hay...for a 892 NH that be slick setup.

[Matt Kirsch]

Customers complaining that the 966 was short on power (I know that was a common complaint about the 966). Customers tearing up hydros on the 1066 (My theory). Can't trust the customer to not crank down the smoke screw on a turbo tractor, then playing ignorant when things go caddywompass ("I have no idea what happened? 🤷‍♂️"), so... D-436.

[2+2love]

I put a dt466 in my 3488 and it drives like a totally different tractor and sips fuel now. Very nice improvement. 

[Drysleeves]

23 hours ago, 2+2love said:

I put a dt466 in my 3488 and it drives like a totally different tractor and sips fuel now. Very nice improvement. 

Did you hair dry the original 466 or swap engines?

[2+2love]

2 hours ago, Drysleeves said:

Did you hair dry the original 466 or swap engines?

Swap engines. It came out of a 2+2. I've had this engine in 3 tractors now.

[iowaboy1965]

On 6/5/2026 at 7:40 AM, Rick G. said:

A friend of mine in Wisconsin  recently bought a 186 Hydro which had been retrofitted with a turbo. He says it looks just like a factory turbo installation outwardly. Even the exhaust pipe hole in the hood. I asked him to send me some pics.

I told him maybe it’s had an entire 414 or 436 engine transplant like out of a 1066, 1466, 1566, 1086, 1486, or 1586?

This got me to wondering- Why didn’t IH put a turbo on the 186 from the factory? After all, their other large frame Hydros had turbos- ie the 1026, and later the 1066 Hydro. 

But did the Hydro 100 have factory turbo? In my old age now, I’m forgetting certain details on things at times. 

 

I was told by a former ih mechanic that at least part of the reason was guys would turn up the pump on the 1066 hydro, which did have a turbo if memory doesn't fail me, go out and buy bigger tillage equipment and put it behind the aforementioned turned up hydro and then be mad at ih when the relief in the hydro dumped because they were trying  to pull too big of equipment. They had the horsepower, but the load was over designed capacity of the hydro. Take that for what it's worth.

[HydroTek]

For plowing and other heavy tillage , the Hydro was never  a good option

They were great baling hay tho , or any other load that needed to vary the speed easily 

Doubt any with a combine or skid steer  would trade that Hydro out for a gear drive 

Was a common practice to set a 1066 gear drive to 150HP before it left the shop 
-- those would run all day at that HP 
-- more than that tho and the ring and pinion would fail 

[KyIH]

I have a 186 with a dt436 and it runs great. I don’t use it for any tillage or heavy drawbar work. I never ran a factory 186 setup so I can’t really compare the two. I have run a 986 with the d436 and it was a gutless pos.

[worm]

Have a M and W turbo on a Hydro 100 that we bought new. Been on the since tractor was less than a year old. Got around 5500 hours on it now. Needed a little more power for chopping. I spend many days on it pulling a 720 and then a 781 chopper. Worked great chopping haylage. Used it also some for corn silage with a two row head but had to watch the exhaust temp. Could get the M and W Pyrometer to over 1000 degrees pretty quick. When we wanted to get something done chopping corn, we would unhook the Hydro 100 and put on the 5288. No worries then and power wasn't a problem. LOL.

One other thing. Once when my Grampa was chopping haylage back in the early 80's. The braided line from the filter to the turbo sprung a leak. Didn't notice it until it was time to switch wagons. Was leaking pretty good. Shut tractor off immediately. No oil reading on dipstick. Dumped over 4 gallons of oil in it to get it to full. Was pretty nervous when we fired it up and started chopping again. Engine and turbo still is original and untouched. I would say we got lucky that day.