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Trouble Getting Crank Welded.


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Hey Jim,

I am a certified aerospace welder and we have been welding cranks for alot of the shops here locally. The reason they crack is because you have a hardened pin being welded to a soft crank. We have been using a wire called "Hastalloy W". Its approved by the AWS and AMS and the military for welding dicsimilar metals together. Its been working fine for us and have had no cracks. Alot of guys use S.S. and it will crack sometimes as soon as you stop the arc. Cranks are under alot of stress and will even flex but its been doing great. Give it a try if you haven't tried it yet. It also works good on cast iron if your tig welding it.

Hope this helps.

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Justintoxicated, I've been running mine unwelded for 3 yrs now. I'm not running super high compression. I don't feel I need it. I have to run 93 octane. If you're going to be drag racing, you may not need as much compression as you think. What dlnoss said it correct. It will not de-tune your motor. It will move the power to a different rpm most likely.

 

But anyway, I'd just run what you have and not worry about it. How many people on here have actually posted that there crank seperated and caused grief.

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Hey Jim,

I am a certified aerospace welder and we have been welding cranks for alot of the shops here locally. The reason they crack is because you have a hardened pin being welded to a soft crank. We have been using a wire called "Hastalloy W". Its approved by the AWS and AMS and the military for welding dicsimilar metals together. Its been working fine for us and have had no cracks. Alot of guys use S.S. and it will crack sometimes as soon as you stop the arc. Cranks are under alot of stress and will even flex but its been doing great. Give it a try if you haven't tried it yet. It also works good on cast iron if your tig welding it.  

Hope this helps.

 

Hey were are you located anyways?

Im going to print this out and see who can weld my crank the proper way when I decide to get it done. Thanks for the tip.

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I'm in Mesa Az. Send it our way when your ready. Its not theat hard to split a case and get the crank out. You could send the bottom end and we'll take care of ya.

 

Jim, Glad to help. Shoot me a p.m. and I'll send you a few pieces of wire to try. Its kind of an exspensive wire and a few pieces will last a while before dropping a 100.00 for a pound or so.

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I may not know what the hell I'm talking about, but just by looking at my cases, and reading the clymer manual, why in the hell would anyone charge $225 to split the cases? To take my head off takes 3 minutes. How long does it take to pull the jugs off? Then take the pistons off. Then there are like 10 bolts holding the cases together. Can't you just undo these, and gently pull the top half off of the lower? At my current shop rate, $225 would buy just over 3.5 hours of work. If you couldn't have that done in 30-45 minutes I think something would be wrong.... Am I right or what?

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It would definately take me a bit longer...Im guessing some other things may need to be removed first also?

 

Anyways I tried calling places today but non of the answered as tehy were too buisy or something to answer their phones. Id like to get my crank welded the right way but won't shipping be expensive?

 

I have a hard time with many places because they want you to come in but working and having school from 10-9 or 7 at night makes this EXTREAMLY hard. And I only have day a week to get any work done really...At this rate it looks like I may not be able to get it welded for the start of the season, So I may end up waiting till may to get the crank welded.

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Your right Stan its not that time consuming. I get 40 bucks to check the crank for straightness and welding. Most of the time is spent cleaning the cases to reassemble them. I think a seal kit is 30 to 40 bucks too.

 

Justin what year is the motor? If your putting money in the top end its a good idea to put new seals in especially on the crank so she don't lean out if its an older motor. Where do you live and I can give you an idea on shipping the lower end. Its hard to pay 300 bucks for the lower end. Hell you could assemble a BB Chevy in that time. But thats my opinion.

 

Stan shoot me your e-mail add. I have some pics to send your way.

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I measured it witht he feeler gauge.

 

both rods have .022 gap between the rod and the crank.

 

I figured it out, If I get the bottem end apart myself or with some help it will cost me $215 to get the crank trued and welded and the clutch machined. If I have someone else do it it will cost $420

 

:(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Actualy I decide to take it to SamCo forTrue/Weld. It cost me exactly $90 and they threw in the K&S bottem end seal kit for free. I belived they used chromoly and they made 4 welds. Ill post some pictures later. They also trued and welded it without removing the bearings which may have saved me the cost of replacing them also.

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