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Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 12:45 pm
by 1972ho
What are the causes of crankshaft end play over the maximum and is there a way to reduce excessive end play rather than replacing the crankshaft.
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 12:59 pm
by Momus
What is the engine?
Wear and bad grinding tolerances.
Some engines have oversize thrust bearings.
There are shaft repair methods.
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:55 pm
by jed
Just move the thrust cap foreword or back to get the thrust clearance you want.
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:27 pm
by BillK
jed wrote: ↑Sat Mar 21, 2020 7:55 pm
Just move the thrust cap foreword or back to get the thrust clearance you want.
ABSOLUTELY NOT !!!!!!! You need the entire surface of the thrust bearing hitting on the crankshaft when it is being pushed forward. If you dont you will only have half the thrust surface available !!!!!
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:29 pm
by BillK
Depending on the engine type there might be overlength thrust bearings available but that will require regrinding the crankshaft to the correct size.
What type of engine and how much over the spec is the movement ?
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:10 pm
by 1972ho
Wow Jed what do you mean by move the thrust cap forward are backward its fixed.This a crank that has just been ground and I remember the crank grinder say he needed to kiss it a little.And it is only about .0005-to .001 from Max allowable.
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2020 9:55 pm
by 65dragster
It probably won’t help, but I lost the thrust on a 327 in a mid-11 second bracket drag car. I used a torque converter from my friend’s dragster which used an engine plate. I failed to have the mounting surface adjusted and over the course of a season, it killed the crank thrust. I was able to have it welded and remachined and it worked for years afterwards.
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:40 am
by jed
There are many import engines 4 and 6 cylinder that have only 1/2 a thrust bearing usually located in the block. With a turbo these engines can make 200/250 hp per cylinder and have no thrust bearing problem. And there are modern present day V/8
and V/6 engines setup the same way with only 1/2 a thrust bearing.
Last week I put a cast iron LS 6.0L together put the main bearings in the block then dropped in the crank and checked the thrust it had .0065 thrust. I thought great t wouldent have to jack with sanding the cap thrust bearing. Not so I barley had .002. I pulled the cap measured the 4 segments of the thrust bearing side to side and they varied from .090 to .094. King race bearings. I sanded the thrust till I got .005 and let it go.
Was the thrust of the crank touching the upper or lower bearing???
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 2:05 am
by Momus
jed wrote: ↑Mon Mar 23, 2020 9:40 am
There are many import engines 4 and 6 cylinder that have only 1/2 a thrust bearing usually located in the block. With a turbo these engines can make 200/250 hp per cylinder and have no thrust bearing problem. And there are modern present day V/8
and V/6 engines setup the same way with only 1/2 a thrust bearing.
Last week I put a cast iron LS 6.0L together put the main bearings in the block then dropped in the crank and checked the thrust it had .0065 thrust. I thought great t wouldent have to jack with sanding the cap thrust bearing. Not so I barley had .002. I pulled the cap measured the 4 segments of the thrust bearing side to side and they varied from .090 to .094. King race bearings. I sanded the thrust till I got .005 and let it go.
Was the thrust of the crank touching the upper or lower bearing???
Conversely there are engines that need an enlarged full circle thrust bearing if they are running a manual transmission and a high force clutch springs.
No hydrodynamic lube on a thrust bearing.
I have contemplated using high tensile bronze alloy ring screwed to the main cap/bulkhead for one engine with excessive clearance
Re: Excessive crankshaft end play
Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 10:07 pm
by MadBill
A shop I frequent had a Trans Am Corvette a few years back that failed its thrust bearing and chewed up the crank due to a ~ 20 lap yellow* behind a pace car that was so slow the racer had to keep dipping the clutch to keep his speed down.
(*a broken brake rotor started a grass fire.)