Standard bearings, no regrind. No, the dealer would quote you for a new engine and move on to the next guy to quote an engine to. "Low oil pressure? new engine" "ticking noise? new engine" "runs hot? new radiator, hoses, thermostat, and waterpump" "leaky airsprings? 4 new airsprings and a compressor" The dealer is so worried about covering they're asses, they sometimes forget about fixing the car, or quote people out of theirs and into a new one.

 

great write up! looks like I have the carbon copy of this one only with twice the kms. I checked my oil psi hot today with 15w40 and a wix 51515 filter. Got 9psi as well. have a light knock at idle goes away as pressure builds or within the first min. or so in the morning. Ordering bearings and seals/gaskets today. Where is the best place to buy oil pump gears? thanks, Andrew.

 

Atlantic British

 

What is the ballpark price on doing something like this at a indy shop?

 

Superior write up!
Thanks you Master Rover.

 

The Price would be huge because the labor time to replace bearings includes dropping the crank out of the engine (you don't have to). I think it's like 16 hrs book time. But you can do it in a day with no problem - As you can see, I replaced the oil pump and all the bearings and I think I charged him 8 hrs to do it. The bill was about 1000 bucks

 

Nothing wrong with that provided the journals measure up with a micrometer and are within machining tolerances and ovality is within limits. Same with piston rings and bores, glaze bust the bore and put a stepped compression ring on the piston, again, provided they are within machining tolerances. It'd be a lot different on a high revving performance engine but these are basic low revving truck engines. This is an excellent economic fix IMO rather than throwing lots of cash at the problem. How much is a new or recon engine? possibly 10x the price.

 

Nothing wrong with that provided the journals measure up with a micrometer and are within machining tolerances.

and what would be your answer if none of the above was done and you just installed new bearings on a crank with 110K miles?

 

Personally, I'd always measure first and take a view if close to or outside of tolerances. In many cases provided you haven't been running around with rattling/clunking big ends or mains rumbling for days/weeks and the journals aren't scored to hell, I'd box it up with new shells. From my perspective one has to take a view on the condition of the journals before wrapping it back up again with new shells, it something gained from experience. I've rebuilt quite a few engines including LR's and had regrinds on cranks and bores machined and gone for oversized shells and pistons but sometimes I've asked myself "why" as the bores and cranks were easily reusable as was. However, we are talking low stressed road vehicles and not high performances with high revving engines. It also depends on whose paying the bills.

I've got an old diesel 1960's Winget 1.5 ton dumper truck in my garden with a Petters PH1 engine, it's all original engine, gearbox and axle. I converted it to electric start using a new Ford Zephyr starter motor. It starts first hit every time and stands outside in all weathers for years. I keep threatening to recon the engine and some other parts but it just keeps on running and working. Like this one Winget 2B1500 WINGET DUMPER 2B1000 2B1500 OPERATOR MANUAL - HANDBOOK AND PARTS LIST | eBay

My approach to vehicles is "if it ain't broke don't fix it" just keep it well serviced and it'll keep on going. Service maintenance is imperative but replacing parts for the sake is a waste of cash. Breakdown maintenance is a good philosophy.

 

Didn't matter if he crank was under or not. The customer wasn't going to pay 3k to pull the crank and regrind it. When you are repairing a customers 10 year old car it's not about doing it "right", it's about achieving a goal as cost effectively as possible. There is no guarantee that grinding the crank and putting in oversized bearings would net anything better than just replacing the bearings.