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As for the crank being welded, highly unlikely, this isn't the only place this happens, there's another journal near it that has something similar. In the picture I posted, there's another small pit in the upper right hand corner. I just can't see someone welding this thing from twenty pieces.



Cranks are welded to repair them, not put them back together.

If someone chews up an engine badly the rods can grind heavily on the crank journals. Pitted bearings can catch debris and wear down the crank like sandpaper.

A crank grinder can take that beat up crank, weld a bunch of material on the bearing journals, and make them big and sloppily oversized. Then, he will turn the journals back down to the original size.
*POOF*
Now your chewed up worn out crank is back to it's original dimensions and good as new.

HOWEVER, if the welder isn't that good or doesn't take proper care the welds can be porous. When they grind them back down to original size it will expose the little pin holes and imperfections.

Those imperfections are what I see in that crank. They can be found anywhere across a welded journal.

Little particles of metal, carbon, or other debris can be carried by the oil and end up between the bearing and the crank. Little holes will catch the trash. That's where it starts chewing up the soft bearings.

That crank either needs to be offset ground (gets rid of the pits) or welded up and repaired again.

We are brothers and sisters doing time on the planet for better or worse. I'll take the better, if you don't mind.
- Stu Harmon