which the crank makes contact with the bearing, the bearings had to be
larger to compensate for the missing diameter of the crank. This would
prevent the crank from spinning sloppily in this space.
With the crank out of the engine, Herman also installed the crank caps
to check for taper and an out-of-round condition in the cavity formed
between the engine saddle and the crank caps. Such wear to this area is
caused by worn bearings or a worn crank, resulting in the crank moving
too much in the saddle. The condition of the saddle was checked in three
places to ensure that the space in the saddle was straight and
consistently even so when the crank is re-installed, it will not
prematurely wear the new bearings or itself get wrecked.
Troy Herman of Metal Crafters in Stevens Point, Wis., measures the
area between the engine saddle and the crank shaft caps with a
telescoping gauge. This is the area where the crank shaft and its
bearings go. Since the crankshaft was turned to remove mild
scoring from the surfaces of the crank where it makes contact with
the bearings, the bearings will be larger than stock (oversize) to
make up for this loss. Simply put, the dimensions of the smaller
crank diameter and the larger crank bearings must add up to the