Fear.....of crankshaft damage and where to get one

[1970FordTK]

Having a mind and letting it run rampent with fear can not be a good thing. Knowing I've got to finish pulling the motor to find the knock, I got a bad sinking feeling its a spun bearing wich means crank damage. I can honestly tell you that a crank is not an item I go buying alot......actually ever. Now I have this strange urge to find out where ya'll get your stuff from when you don't have any junk yards around. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys. Motor is a 360FE.

[convincor]

if you end up needing one, I've got a good one you can have. just cover shipping. about $40 ?

[Blue Cloud]

http://www.precisionengine.com/
Most engine rebuilders have crank kits available. I think they run around $250-$275. Includes reconditioned crank and bearings to match.

[fordman]

besides the fellow on here any parts store should have a new one. you can also get your old one turned to make it round again.

[1970FordTK]

Fordman, could you define "any parts store" that would have one listed?

[fordman]

auto zone crankshaft kit part number 15270 comes with rod and main bearings 160.00
oriellys crankshaft kit part number 15670 comes with main and rod bearings 194.99
napa online crankshaft kit available local stores only. 2 part numbers available.
GOP
CKFO59B

STD
15590
rockauto.com crankshaft kit 174.79 includes rod and main bearings.

im also sure any of the truck vendors would have them as well as maybe summit and jegs. a little window shopping could get you a good deal on one.

[DuckRyder]

Well...

if you are gonna buy a crank, get rods and pistons too and make it a 390 or 410.

DSCmotorsport.com

survivalmotorsports.com

keithcraft.com

precisionoilpumps.com (Doug)

I'd suggest calling anyof these vs e-mail.

[1970FordTK]

Thanks guys, nothing like having options. And prices to go along with those options.

[ka_jd7and1]

I don't know if it's the same as a Chevy (I know, I know), but at the parts stores their "remanufactured" cranks are just a stock crank that has been turned, sometimes quite a bit. I would spend a little extra and get a new aftermarket one.

[averagef250]

Why not do what everyone else does when they have a scored crank and have it ground undersize?

It takes a lot to make a crank unusable. Cast cranks aren't the toughest, but often a crank can be fine even when the bearing has spun in the rod. You don't know what you need to do until you get the crank out and inspect it.

I don't get why people think it's a good idea to speculate and even go as far as to buy parts to fix an engine they haven't opened and inspected. The process is simple- Diagnose it best you can while running/in the vehicle- Remove and tear down to degree required to thoroughly inspect and pinpoint the issue(s)- Effect the repair by thoroughly cleaning and replacing/refurbishing the bad parts.

Nowhere in that is "Take a wild guess what parts may be bad and get prices for something you might need".

I just picked up a 4B Cummins from an 89 Case tractor. It had spun #4 rod bearing from jackasses firing the tractor up in very cold temps and flooring it to move the hydraulics fast. Just tearing it down right now and there isn't much left of the bearing shell, the rod is toast, but the crank journal looks like it will polish right up with only very minor scoring. The journal should still have 95% of it's original surface area in spec which is fine for me.

BTW, can you tell a rod knock from anything else? Rods make a very clear, harsh, rapid knock that you'll feel through the whole vehicle and gets considerably worse with engine speed and load. If the knock is at engine speed it is in the rotating assembly. If it's 1/2 engine speed it's in the valvetrain. Most FE knock noises are valvetrain related.

[fordman]

i never thought abotu telling you to stop instead of pull the pan and try and wiggle the rods first.

[1970FordTK]

Figured ya'll deserved and update on this one. Pulled the motor, after getting it on the engine stand I proceeded to scribe mark all the parts before removing. I marked the heads for which side they came off of, along with the rocker rails. Then I turned my attention to the bottom end, for a motor that had been bored to 40 over (that's what the machine shop confirmed and what the pistons where marked) the first thing that caught my eye was that the main bearing caps hadn't been marked for order. The next thing that was off was the connecting rods had been marked but only the number one was in its right spot. Being that part of the way I can recognize my work on something quickly when I open an engine is that I mark things that have to be numbered with roman numerals (for my poor outdoor weather hobby I engrave to pass the time) I only bring this up because the guys at the machine shop asked me where I got the roman numeral stamps from. I removed the pistons after making sure the rod and bearing caps where marked (all 8 rod bearings had wear that looked to be normal-if the motor had 250 thousand miles on it) for only 1500 miles of use, way to much wear. After removing the main caps, main bearings had the same look, no scaring but the look of a lot of wear. Figuring that the PO of this truck got screwed by the machine shop he used (receipt for the motor rebuild was in the toolbox when I got the truck) I double checked the heads before heading to the machine shop (heads where gone through and a ace job had been done on them) as per my luck I decided have the block and the heads fluxed (even though I had no leaks before) Block was fine and so where the heads (I had new cam bearings put in the block to be safe,had them put in brass 1 49/64 freeze plugs other machine shop had used 1 3/4 steel ones) now to the fun stuff of what was causing the off sound. My cam was fine, my crank on the other hand was warped and beyond the specs they wanted to turn it to make it right. (machine shop I use main clients are drag and oval track racers I live in North Carolina who would have thought people race here-insert sarcasm) They where nice enough to fit me in cause I know its there busy season this that time of year, I was in no hurry to have it so they fit it into there schedule as the parts came in. The cylinder bores where still in new shape (you could still see some of the crosshatching from the last machine shop work) so they just crosshatched it and went with new rings. Its been a while sense I needed my ring compressor, so had to replace it due to it having disappeared.(farm tractors and diesels use sleeved cylinders not much use for a ring compressor when the thing comes with the piston in the sleeved already) The mains didn't get out of round from the warped crank (machine shop double check it after finding the crank warped) After much thought to Duckryders comment I kept the motor near "stock" , after all when you have it out like that its a good time to put in some goodies. I do plan to drive this thing as a daily driver though, I'm near the first 100 mile mark on the engine break in. Man is it hard to resist putting your foot in it when it sounds that good. Only a little over 400 more to go on the break in, just hope I can keep from getting on it to piss off some of them rice burners. Thanks to all ya'll for the comments and list of places to find cranks for the thing.