I am doing my first engine rebuild and have a question I hope you can help me with. When checking the end play on the crank with all the bearings torqued down do I need the same amount of end play on both ends at the same time without moving the crank OR just on one side at a time? I now have .005 on the front side and if I use a pry bar to move the crank to the back I can only get .002. If I dont pry the crank back I cant get even .002 out of it. The crank turns freely either way. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks ccnova

wait... say that again ?

you have .005 end play in the crank at the balancer, and .002 endplay in the crank at the flywheel ?

"endplay" in which direction ?as your standing there with the snout for the balancer pointing right at you, is the play in line with the crank or side to side ?

Either push the crank foward, or backward, and then measure the gap on the thrust bearing. Ck your book for the max spec, I don't remember it right off hand, but .005 to .007 sounds familar.

Mark

I'm still not sure about this. Do I need the clearance on both sides of the thrust bearing at the same time? Should I be able to measure .005 between the front and rear surface of the thrust bearing with out moving the crank OR just measure one side then move the crank the other way and measure again on the other side? Sorry for all the questions I just dont want to screw it up! Thanks ccnova

In my opinion the most accurate method of checking crankshaft endplay and the only way I will ever use is to mount a dial indicator using a magnetic base on the block. The endplay is how far the crankshaft moves in the fore/aft direction within the block. After you align the thrust bearings push the crankshaft all the way forward and zero your dial indicator, then push it rearward and read the dial which will be your endplay. You can use feeler gages and many people do sucessfully but I prefer to use a dial indicator. Hope this helps!