If you've ever heard a 6.7 Cummins clear its throat at full song and thought "yeah, the stock turbo's nice and all, but it could be more" — you're not wrong, and there's a fix for it. The Fleece Cheetah turbo is the drop-in upgrade the Cummins world has been screaming about for the last decade, and the reason is simple: it gives you everything the stock unit was supposed to be, with more snap, more top-end, and a noise that'll make small children look up.

It's not a built-truck race turbo. It's not a wall hanger. It's a bolt-in factory replacement that turns the 6.7 (and the 5.9, with the right kit) into the truck Cummins should have built in the first place. Here's exactly what the Cheetah does, what it doesn't, and why it's flying off the shelves at DNR Customs' Fleece Performance Engineering collection. Want it bundled with the rest of the build? Quote it.

What the Cheetah actually is

The Fleece Cheetah is a drop-in replacement turbo for the factory variable-geometry Holset on Cummins 6.7s (and a CHRA-swap version for the 5.9). It looks like a stock Holset because, in many ways, it is a stock Holset — Fleece took the OE housing and dropped in a billet compressor wheel, recurved the wheel for better flow and spool, and balanced the whole rotating assembly to a tighter spec than the factory.

That sounds like a small change. It's not. The billet wheel:

• Flows significantly more air than the cast OE compressor.
• Weighs less, which means it spools faster and recovers quicker between shifts.
• Is more durable under the abuse of tuned and towed trucks.
• Looks aggressive enough that the first time you pop your charge-pipe and see it, you'll grin.

Result: a stock-replacement turbo that drives like factory in town, breathes like a much bigger turbo under boost, and doesn't ask anything else from your truck to bolt on.

Stock vs Cheetah: where the gains are

You can dyno it, you can data-log it, or you can just drive it — the Cheetah's wins show up everywhere it matters:

• Quicker spool. The billet wheel and recurve get you on boost sooner, which means a stronger launch and faster shift-to-shift recovery under tow.
• More top-end airflow. Where the stock compressor runs out of breath, the Cheetah keeps pulling. Big tunes that ran out of turbo with stock suddenly have headroom.
• Lower EGTs under tow. More airflow at the same fueling = cooler exhaust = more margin. You can pull longer, harder grades without watching the pyrometer climb.
• That sound. The Cheetah whistles. Aggressive. It's not a chinese-jet-engine BOV stunt — it's the right kind of turbo sound. You'll hear it.

And because the unit drops into the stock location with the stock VGT actuator and stock charge-pipe routing, you don't lose drivability, you don't lose the variable-geometry exhaust brake, you don't lose anything. You just gain.

The Cheetah lineup: 6.7 Cummins versions

Fleece doesn't make one Cheetah and call it a day. They tailor the housing and wheel combos to your model year so spool and top-end match the truck. Across the Fleece collection, here's how it breaks down for the 6.7:

Cheetah for 2007.5–2012 6.7 Cummins

The original recipe — fits the early 6.7 trucks. Wakes up tuning that the stock turbo was choking, and pairs beautifully with mild to medium fueling upgrades.

Cheetah for 2013–2018 6.7 Cummins

The model-year sweet spot for the Cheetah. These trucks make excellent power with the Cheetah behind a quality tune, and it's where most of our installs land. Pair it with a FASS lift pump for clean fuel and your S&B intake for clean air, and the truck is transformed.

Cheetah for 2019+ 6.7 Cummins (5th gen)

The newest Cheetah fitment. Drop-in for the 5th-gen Ram. If you're stacking a 2019+ build with Hamilton's flat-tappet conversion and the rest of the right reliability mods, the Cheetah is the natural air-side bolt-on.

5.9 Cummins owners — you're not forgotten

Fleece also offers Cheetah CHRA-swap kits for the 5.9 24-valve trucks. You re-use your stock turbine and bearing housings; Fleece supplies the upgraded center section with the billet wheel. The result is a Cheetah-spec turbo on your 5.9 without dropping a brand-new turbocharger price tag. Browse the matching Cummins collection for the rest of the package.

Is the Cheetah the right turbo for you?

It's not the right turbo for every build. Quick gut-check:

For 95% of street-driven 6.7 Cummins owners — including most towed and mildly tuned trucks — the Cheetah is the right answer. If you're chasing 1,000+ HP at the wheels, you're going to look at compounds or a much bigger single. Need help deciding? Send us your build and we'll point you at the right turbo.

Why the Cheetah beats most "stage 2" options

Walk into the diesel aftermarket and you'll see a hundred "stage 2" or "drop-in" turbos. Most of them either don't really fit (read: install nightmare), don't really make the power they claim, or both. The Cheetah avoids both traps because:

• It uses the OE housing. Drop-in means drop-in — no charge-pipe modifications, no exhaust mods, no relocating the actuator.
• The wheel and recurve are engineered, not eyeballed. Fleece has put years of CFD and dyno time into this thing. The map is honest.
• It's serviceable. If you ever need a CHRA cartridge replacement, you don't throw away a whole bespoke unit — it goes back to Fleece.
• It works on stock fueling. You don't need to be a tuned-and-injected build to feel the difference. Stock truck owners love it too.

What you'll want to bolt on with it

The Cheetah is a drop-in turbo, but it's a turbo that likes a complete build. The high-value pairings:

• An S&B cold air intake to make sure your air side isn't the bottleneck — see our S&B intake guide.
• A FASS lift pump to feed the high-pressure pump clean, pressurized fuel — see our FASS guide.
• A solid tune sized to your power goals.
• Bigger fuel if you're chasing real power — browse injectors in the catalog.
• An exhaust from our fuel system / exhaust selection so you're not strangling the new turbo on the way out.

If you're building from scratch, work through our 6.7 Cummins first 5 upgrades guide — it'll keep you from spending money in the wrong order.

Install: a long Saturday or a short Sunday

Replacing a 6.7 Cummins turbo is a real wrench job — it's not a 30-minute swap — but it's well within reach of an experienced DIYer with a lift, a few hours, and a friend. The high points:

• Drain coolant, remove turbo coolant and oil lines, disconnect VGT actuator electrical.
• Remove the heat shield, downpipe / Y-pipe, and intake horn / charge-pipe routing.
• Unbolt the turbo from the exhaust manifold, fight it out of the engine bay (this is where the friend earns lunch).
• Drop in the Cheetah, reconnect everything in reverse order, prime the oil feed, refill coolant.
• Cold-start carefully, watch for leaks, take it for a steady break-in cruise.

If that sounds like a Saturday you'd rather not lose, drop it off — our certified diesel techs do these installs all the time. Request a quote and we'll bundle the install with whatever else you're adding while the truck is on the lift.

What makes Fleece different (and why we stock them)

The aftermarket diesel space is full of companies slapping their name on parts somebody else built. Fleece Performance Engineering isn't that. Out of their Brownsburg, Indiana shop they've built a reputation as engineers first — guys who CFD a wheel, dyno a turbo, and re-do it when the data tells them to. That shows up in the way Cheetah turbos drive, how consistent their builds are from unit to unit, and how serious the Cummins competition crowd takes their gear.

That's the same reason we stock the broader Fleece collection at DNR Customs alongside the Cheetah: their fuel-system parts, billet S400 turbos, transmission components, and supporting hardware all carry the same engineering DNA. When Fleece releases something new, it's because the math, the dyno time, and the in-truck miles backed it. That's a higher bar than a lot of the aftermarket clears.

Cheetah on a stock truck vs a built truck

One of the most common questions we get: "I'm stock — should I do the Cheetah now, or wait until I'm tuned?"

The honest answer is do it now. Here's why:

• Stock trucks benefit immediately. Spool, sound, EGT margin under tow, slight power gains — these don't require a tune to show up.
• It's a foundation for the rest of the build. Whatever you bolt on later — tuning, fueling, an S&B intake, a 6.7-friendly exhaust — works better behind the Cheetah than the stock turbo.
• Stock-truck installs are easier. No supporting fueling work to coordinate, no tune to retune, no charge-pipe juggling. Bolt it on, drive it, smile.

If you're already tuned and the truck is asking for more turbo, the Cheetah is the obvious upgrade. If you're stock, it's still the obvious upgrade — you're just getting ahead of the rest of the build with the most-impactful single bolt-on the platform supports.

Cheetah supporting parts checklist

If you're treating the Cheetah install as the moment to round things out — which most of our customers do — these are the parts to consider adding to the cart:

• Silicone charge pipes and clamps if your factory boots are at their limit.
• An upgraded intake horn / Y-bridge for fuller-flow into the head.
• A fresh set of gaskets for the manifold-to-turbo and turbo-to-downpipe joints — never re-use these.
• Quality engine oil and a fresh filter for the new turbo's first thousand miles.
• A proper coolant top-off after the install — the Cheetah is liquid-cooled like the OE.

Most of these are cheap insurance against ever having to pull the turbo a second time to fix a corner you cut the first time.

Common questions before you pull the trigger

Will the Cheetah work on a stock 6.7 Cummins?

Yes. You don't need a tune, injectors, or a CP3 swap to install one — the Cheetah works as a stock-replacement turbo and you'll feel the spool and sound improvement immediately. Of course, it shines brightest when paired with the rest of a smart build.

Does the Cheetah change my exhaust brake?

No. The Cheetah uses the OE variable-geometry turbine and actuator, so your factory exhaust brake works exactly as it always did.

What kind of horsepower can the Cheetah support?

Comfortably into the 600+ rear-wheel range with a quality tune and supporting mods — that's well into "serious street truck" territory. Beyond that, you start looking at compounds.

What's the difference between a Cheetah and a stock VGT?

Billet compressor wheel (vs cast), tighter balance spec, and Fleece's recurve work. Looks similar from the outside; the airflow story is on another level.

How loud is the Cheetah?

Louder than stock, in the right way. You hear it spool, you hear it work, and you hear it cool down. It's the sound a Cummins is supposed to make.

Can I install the Cheetah myself?

An experienced DIYer with a lift and a long weekend, absolutely. If you want it done right and bundled with intake, fueling, or any of the rest of the package, we'll handle it.

Common Cheetah install mistakes (don't make these)

The Cheetah is a friendly install for a real turbo job — but every shop sees the same handful of avoidable mistakes that turn a good install into a comeback. Avoid these and you'll save yourself an afternoon and a temper.

• Re-using gaskets. The exhaust-manifold-to-turbo gasket is a one-time-use part. So is the downpipe gasket. Don't get cute. Replace them.
• Skipping the oil prime. The new turbo needs oil on its bearings before you spin it. Crank with the fuel disabled (or follow Fleece's prime procedure) before the first start.
• Forgetting the coolant. The Cheetah is water-cooled. Top off coolant, bleed the system, and double-check before the test drive.
• Over-tightening the V-band. The compressor V-band clamp doesn't need to be cranked to the moon — torque it to spec.
• Routing the VGT actuator harness wrong. Take five extra minutes to route the electrical away from the heat. Cooked harnesses are an annoying failure point.
• Test-driving like a maniac on day one. Take it easy for the first 30 minutes — give the new bearings a gentle break-in. Then send it.

Avoid those six and your Cheetah install will be the kind of bolt-on you'll forget you did until somebody asks "did you change something? the truck sounds different."

What it costs vs what you get

Let's be straight about the value equation. The Cheetah isn't free, and we won't pretend it is. But here's how the math works out vs the alternatives:

• vs. a stock VGT replacement — if you're already in for a turbo job, the price delta to step up to a Cheetah is the easiest "yes" in diesel. Why bolt on the same turbo that's about to die again?
• vs. a big-single or compound setup — the Cheetah is a fraction of the cost, installs without supporting mods, and works for 90%+ of street trucks.
• vs. just tuning harder — at some point fueling outruns airflow, and the truck stops responding. The Cheetah moves the wall significantly to the right.

For most owners, the Cheetah is the highest dollar-per-smile upgrade in the catalog. It's also one of the few that genuinely complements everything else you'll add — instead of forcing you to redo work.

The bottom line on the Cheetah

If you own a 6.7 Cummins and you've ever wished the stock turbo had more in it — or if you're starting fresh on a build and you want the right turbo to anchor it — the Fleece Cheetah is the most-recommended drop-in turbo upgrade in the Cummins world for a reason. Real gains, real sound, real fit, no compromises.

Shop the full Fleece Performance Engineering collection at DNR Customs, see the rest of the turbo & intercooler selection, and if you want a human to spec the Cheetah for your specific year and the rest of your build, request a quote — we'll get you set up right the first time. The Cheetah's reputation didn't happen by accident and it doesn't need overselling. Bolt one on and let the truck make the case for you on the very first pull.