clean crank by hand

gears

Member
So anyone got any go-to things for cleaning journals that have a film on them? I don't want to abrade the surface, plastigauge shows good clearance, but there's a residue I'd like to take off before re-assembly. I'm thinking green scotts dish sponge with mineral spirits or atf (or both) and then a good rinse with mineral spirits and wipedown with a clean lint-free cloth before lubing for assembly.

Or do I just spray brake cleaner on it and lube before assembly?
 
If it was me I'd soak a long strip of lint free cloth in the middle with Amsoil MP and make like the little shoe shine boy who played the Tennessee Flat Head N. :D

Blue jean denim with no ragged edge would be good.
Amsoil will dissolve varnish-like deposits and you don't have to wash off whatever remains.
 
So where do those dissolved debris go, since you didn't wash it
off. Seems like they are still there, just solvated or suspended
in the oil film.

IMHO, if the deposits were bad enough to clean, then they
should be removed before that journal gets clamped into a
bearing shell with deposits still present....
 
So sitting awake last night thinking about this, I thought why not (as Tall T said) "shoeshine" but using fine polishing compound (like for clearcoat paint) and then rinse and lube.

I'm just trying to avoid the $200+ cost of having it polished and needing new bearings on the rebuild (dropped a valve, oil pressure was good enough to keep the light off, clearances tight, and bearings look defect free and there's no scoring I can feel on the journals with my thumbnail).
 
"Crocus cloth" is the traditional material to polish crankshaft journals with, but it's getting hard to find.
 
I still have a piece of that red colored crocus cloth. One way I've used it is to cut a strip slightly longer that the stones on my brake cylinder hone stones, wrap the stones in the crocus or 600 emery and then spin polishing brake cylinder bores after I was through honing.

Strips of 400/600 emery might do well shoe-shine polishing your journals too.
 
There is very fine wet/dry sandpaper in the 1000-
2000 range used to sand clear coat finishes before
you buff out.

My concern is the crank may be egg shaped.
I put an engine together using new rod bearings and
didn't have crank turned, mistake, crank was out of
round. You may want to mic it.
 
Good advice Geo-TH, I guess I'll have time to do that while the block is being done. Better to do it right than do it over.
 
In the 60-70 I was lucky to get 80-100K on an
engine before I rebuilt it. Then I had to have
cylinders bored out to usually .040, crank
turned, cam turned, new lifters, cam bearings,
freeze plugs, new water and oil pumps, valve job.

Back them I could plan on spending $600 on a 6
cylinder and $800 on a V8.

My engine rebuilding days ended with front wheel
drive and computer fuel management. By the time
today's engines are shot, so is the rest of the
vehicle.
 

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