I cracked my Eagle crank...

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stroker_valiant

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I pulled the motor on the valiant yesterday and got the bottom end apart to find out there is a crack on the crank. I was wondering what that noise was! This crack was induced by my convertor that was all jacked up, J&W Racing had welded the convertor hub off center, and I cracked the hub, sent it back to them for repairs not knowing exactly what the problem was at the time. When I got the convertor back for the second time, it all went back together and the hub cracked again. I was fed up with J&W Racing so I sent the convertor to Performance Torque Convertor. PTC are the ones that identified the problem. Well soon after the stroker developed a knock, I had assumed the vibrations had wiped out a main bearing, no big deal, I can fix that. But now the crank is cracked on the journal where number 7 and 8 connect, now it’s a big deal, can’t fix that!
Eagle CAST 4’’ crank, soon to be a forged unit!
Pictures soon…
 
That sucks, there was a thread here not long ago about another Eagle crank that came apart or cracked.
 
You probably won't get anywhere with it but I think J&W Racing owes you a crank. They must not own a dial indicator. tmm
 
Well I just found out the camera battery is dead, so when it’s done I’ll have pics for you. A buddy of mine is trying to talk me into fighting it with J&W, all the bearings, the gaskets, the crank, the cost of getting the convertor repaired by a competent company, I am out about 800-1000 bucks, now I have to get a new crank so there is even more costs. I am not one to get lawsuit happy, but around 2 grand makes me think about it!
 
I bet this makes you very cranky...

Sorry to hear about your "bad luck". Good luck trying to get them to take responsibility. I bet they try to pass the buck.
 
Another Eagle crank failure.

This failure has nothing to do with the crank, it was a converter out of balance and off center that caused vibrations to take out the crank.

Like Oldmanmopar is saying, you should take the trans apart for a good inspection.
 
Yikes.... forged crank all the way. I seem to read about cast crank failures every other day (although this one had another issue that caused it). Sorry for your loss.
 
Very true, Tis failure was caused by another faulty part.

This failure has nothing to do with the crank, it was a converter out of balance and off center that caused vibrations to take out the crank.

Like Oldmanmopar is saying, you should take the trans apart for a good inspection.
 
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And the rest...

The motor puked in the pan...
 

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Most of that looks like bearing material. Not a huge deal. It's where there's iron in it that there's a problem. The engine has to come apart and started with a freshly cleaned bare block. No cam bearings, etc. Everythign should come completely apart and get cleaned and all reassembled. Plus, you'll have rebalancing. I had one that a balancer ate after 400 miles a couple years ago. Ended up costing me thousands to repair for the guy and he offered to cover the cost of an upgraded the crank and balancing. It happens...
 
Sorry to hear about your bad luck. But I couldn't help but wonder.....if the converter was assembled off-center, wouldn't it have been difficult to bolt up to the flexplate and then wouldn't it have taken out the converter bushing and/or trans pump before the crank?

Not taking sides, just trying to be objective and consider all the possibilities.
 
Oh, that is sickening. As an owner of a cast crank, Im going to break out the dial indicator and check that hub...BUT at least we know what caused it! What would a forged crank do, just absorb it? Im with Loco: Im trying to figure out the dynamics of a worn hub that is pretty much surrounded by the biggest main bearing (#5) and the most meat on the crank causing the fracture at that point? Some structural engineer/crank guy can maybe explain this to us, or me? yikes!
 
The convertor fit to the flexplate just fine and went into the trans pump just fine. I do not know how much off center the hub was welded though. There were NO vibrations or odd noises until it started thumping, it literally sounded just like a diesel engine. The pump bushing WAS destroyed, three times. I had taken the trans apart after every time the hub cracked, when I sent the convertor out, I had assumed the “professional” company had repaired the part properly. I hate assuming, but at this point, assuming is all I can do when thinking that the convertor was welded off center the first time it was rebuilt and every time I ran it, the vibrations had just compiled into the snap. I did not change the engine oil between any of the trans/convertor disassemblies, so I did not notice any shavings in the oil.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. But I couldn't help but wonder.....if the converter was assembled off-center, wouldn't it have been difficult to bolt up to the flexplate and then wouldn't it have taken out the converter bushing and/or trans pump before the crank?

Not taking sides, just trying to be objective and consider all the possibilities.
 
Wow this sucks! This is why I'm using a forged crank..
 
Supposed to be the best,but expensive. Better be worth the $$!
 
The ones I am finding are under 700 bucks, in comparison, a forged Eagle unit is 680 from summit. Thats not much more dough...
 
Price must have come down. I thought they were around $1000 or so,but maybe that's a big block crank?
 
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