locating bearing lugs on crankshaft Grrrrrrrr

[peanut]

I warn you now I'm as grumpy as hell ,like a bear with toothache. I'm on a diet and can think of nothing but food at the moment.

Ok I have fitted my crankshaft into the upper casing several times without problem .

Today I decide to finally close the cases so I removed the crank and fitted the cam chain. (removed intact by PO ).

Now I cannot get the damn *&%$3"* crank main bearings to locate properly Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I get 3x seated but not the forth.... then I get another 3x seated but not a different 4th bearing.

Whats the secret to getting these damn things seated properly before I take a 4 lb lump hammer to the crank.

To add to the problem its not just a case of rotating the 4x bearings to locate them onto their respective locating lugs but you also have to slide 3x of the bearing outer races back and forth on the crank at the same time .

I need carbs!.....

 

[hard_y_rd]

If you weren't sealing up the cases, you would have it in a few minutes. It took me 45 minutes just to get it to sit correctly. There is no trick that i'm aware of maybe three hands. Walk away and try again. I have as about much patience as the next guy.

 

[peanut]

thanks hard_d_rd I thought it was just me !

Its taken me nearly half an hour ! unbelievable. I bet Haynes just says ' install the crankshaft' .....like its a 2 minute job.

Eventually I managed it by locating the large bearing first then maintaining pressure on that end of the crank I located the next bearing along and so on, giving the crank a nice satisfying thwack with my rubber mallet to bed them in.

Phew what a nightmare . Now I'm worried that the bearings need replacing . They are noticeably wobbly even at just 18k miles. I think I'll bang it all back together and run it and see how it is because I've a feeling I'm going to want to go for a rephase crank and big bore kit before the year is out.

thanks again for your reassurance .

 

[hard_y_rd]

I didn't replace any crank bearings either, from what i've read on here the originals are better anyway. I didn't have many miles on my motor before tear down.

 

[hotdog]

It takes a lot of abuse to kill the mains on these motors, if they looked OK with a visual inspection then they should be good to go.

 

[C-Los SD]

Try installing upside down. Top case on the bottom, a little easier to allign the pins when you drop the crank. It's easier if the head bolts are removed, but you put it on the edge of a table.

 

[hard_y_rd]

I think that is the way everyone is putting them in. I couldn't imagine doing it right side up.

 

[peanut]

Try installing upside down. Top case on the bottom, a little easier to allign the pins when you drop the crank. It's easier if the head bolts are removed, but you put it on the edge of a table.

thats the way I did it. I thought that was the correct assembly method anyway ?

It must be impossible the other way as you don't have the weight of the crankshaft helping .

I used a carpenters workbench so the head studs fit between the jaws of the vice its quite a good method

 

[peanut]

It takes a lot of abuse to kill the mains on these motors, if they looked OK with a visual inspection then they should be good to go.

thats what I wanted to hear

When I saw that I remember reading somewhere that these motors are bombproof !

As long as it sees me through this summer I'll be happy.