Welded crankshaft..to be or not to be, that is the question.

[tatu]

What are you using to separate the crank bits??? I used to do 2 stroke singles, and could probably do a 2 stroke twin or even a triple, but never tackled a 4 stroke multi cyl...

I'm sure it's the same theory, my BIL cut and shaped me some (I think) 20mm thick steel plates because you have to catch the whole web evenly. I have only a 10 ton press but it seems to manage ok.
I would send some photos of the plates but I'm not near them.

I was hoping for some feed back re welding the crank together, the crank pins is only possible to get part way around with weld and as the crank has an allowable run out i think of .0002" I was needing to know if the pressed together parts are rigid enough to avoid distortion. I was hoping somebody with experience of this would know and answer.

[GregT]

If it's welded as you assemble each part - tacked, checked for alignment then finish welded - you should avoid distortion.

An engineer local to me did an 1150 crank for a local drag racer. He'd never done one this long before and rang me for advice - his usual fallback, lol.
He did as suggested above and it's turned out fine.

[tatu]

If it's welded as you assemble each part - tacked, checked for alignment then finish welded - you should avoid distortion.

An engineer local to me did an 1150 crank for a local drag racer. He'd never done one this long before and rang me for advice - his usual fallback, lol.
He did as suggested above and it's turned out fine.

Thanks for the response, it does help settle things in my mind, I don't know if my Tig welder has enough power to weld the crank, but i do know the whole thing has to be disassembled to get to all the places. I also don't think i have the level of skill to lay in the exact weld it will need. The crank in the picture is a sacrificial test one to practice on.

[grcamna2]

If it's welded as you assemble each part - tacked, checked for alignment then finish welded - you should avoid distortion.

An engineer local to me did an 1150 crank for a local drag racer. He'd never done one this long before and rang me for advice - his usual fallback, lol.
He did as suggested above and it's turned out fine.

Shipping to Maine from where you are might cost a bit,but if you can get in touch with Stan Gardner and work-out some details..

[Guest]

I put in a FB pm to Gardner Racing, anyone have contact info for John Pearson or any othe good crank rebuilders???

[TeamDar]

Pearson racing (937) 839-9723