The truck is on the road 24/7 running coast to coast. Averaging 4-5k miles a week.
LML Callies Durastar Crankshaft Issues??
- Thread starter Duramax_9505
- Start date
The truck is on the road 24/7 running coast to coast. Averaging 4-5k miles a week.
I have to agree.. Except time will tell with the l5p. The callies in my lml really does have me worried now. Since it was supposed to stay all stock while I owned it. Now with unforeseen issues it's on its 3rd engine and I thought I did it all right this time. I know I definitely can't afford to pay for a 4th engine.
But I have seen a 6.7 here at work take out the main bearings.
Ulysses S. Grant says the crank face has a grove cut in it about like attached...
Reason I suggest you have all hardware RW tested before sending it back. That would help provide an independent conclusion as to issue at hand. Humans invented bearings because they are softer than the steel surfaces they ride against. If not, the crank would wear out before the bearings...
Don't get me wrong I totally respect Callie's and own the first 2 Duramax Ultra Billet's off the press. However on this issues I believe they really need stand up and take responsibility. Yours isn't the first failure, just the first failure publicly posted about..
Attachments
Nope another Durastar example.
I checked both my Utra Billets very closely when we had the rods out. Endplay was same as we recorded upon assembly. Only noticed a bit of wear on journals between rod bearings at bottom of stroke. At present time I've concluded that is most likely due to the Howard's rods wrist pin oiling holes lining up to journal hole in that position. Or related to the rods being cut down to fit narrow journal. Nothing to a level of concern yet, but they still seem a bit soft IMO.
The other model uses a different steel compound than OEM. This was to be the fix for breaking while keeping factory dimensions. Maybe so, but seems the hardness of surface in that thrust area isn't working out as planned.
As I first posted this could be a one batch issue that just got missed. Or could be bigger. Either way, think they need step up and let everyone know it's likely not the assembly shops fault. Ya bunch of shade tree mechanics...
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Let’s look from the other direction. Does anyone out there have a Durastar crankshaft with 100,000 miles on it ?
That's their budget forged crank, right, or do they make 3 different cranks? I'm not super familiar with their products.
Ulysses is a pretty smart old guy... Guess that's why he's on the 50
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I'm thinking there is something pushing forward. You should never have that much pressure against the trust bearing. Also unless there is a oiling problem the two metals should never touch each other. Years ago when I was build a lot of pulling truck motors others had that same problem from the clutch pressure (pressure plate base pressure plus weights at rpm). I always machined two grooves from the main oiling hole at 45* to the pressure side of the trust bearing. Never any problems even when sliding the clutch out of the hole at 8500 rpm. It could be converter charge pressure and nothing in the converter itself. What kind of line pressure is the tranny running?
Normally I would 100% agree with you Jeff on this as it is simple old school engine basics 101. However, this has been a single crank manufacture/design issue that has unfortunately been seen by a handful of the top shops in the country all of the sudden out of the blue. We haven't had this issue with any other cranks available including the stock one so it is pointing back to a bad batch or design/treatment issue more so than anything else. One of the ones we had this with was a 650hp daily driver that didn't make it 10k miles before oil started leaking from the front and rear main seals because of the excessive play because the lower thrust bearing fell out because the clearance opened up so much yet the bearing was for the most part untouched. The oil leak was the only reason we knew something was wrong with it, everything else was like brand new and we literally balance a new crank to it and rolled it in without touching anything else. We had two motors built at the same time with the exact same issue so it can't be a fluke. The pair of cranks were also from the same batch also ordered at the same time together.
The last time I saw an actual issue like you are talking about was years ago when a customer installed a drop box and the input shaft was too long and shoved the crank forward into the block but it only took about 30minutes to do the damage to it. On that one the crank was barely fazed but the thrust was crewed up and the block cracked at the 12 O'clock position from the force. Either way I sure hope they make it right because I'm really tired of paying for this stuff that is supposed to the latest greatest fix for our issues only to have it cost us even more money than it was worth. Other than the breaking, the stock crank has been a bad bitch compared to the aftermarket offerings that were supposed to be soo much better! So far to date, the SoCal ultra narrow journal billet crank is the only one we haven't had fail yet so I'm holding my breath that it stays that way!
This thread has me and many others concerned about even running this specific crank. If many other shops that you know about are seeing this it's hard to risk a brand new engine. This has my head hurting with me ready to fire new engine soon. Wish there was some way to figure out if it was a batch issue. Mine was balanced and everything.
You could have the thrust surface rockwell/hardness tested. Sure you'll have to take the crank out but realistically its the only way to know based on what has been provided evidence wise in this thread.
You could also call Callie’s with the numbers from the crank. If it happens to be a batch problem they would know if yours is a potential problem.
I personally haven't yet myself. On the Compstar it has been a low percentage of issue so far but as far as I'm concerned it shouldn't have been an issue period. I have a Compstar in my current race motor and time will tell on it too. According to Eric, Callies did replace both of the cranks we had issue with and it was tied to a batch that they are now saying was the issue itself.
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