i need some ideas 'cause i'm really bummed i bought a 500" stroker kit for a low deck last year, a 400" motor about 3-4 years ago and finally had funds for machining this year. i did everything, line hone and install studs, pin fitting, balance, bore/ hone, zero deck, cc'd one chamber to figure cr, performance valve job, blah blah. so i spent money i don't have so it would be done right and even paid $100 for a "trial assembly" but wanted to do my own assembly. the main bearings needed to be clearanced for the radiused fillets according to the machinist and this was done.

so, i have tried 3 times torquing the main studs with lube on the bearings torqing to 30, 60, then 90 then setting #3 and it tightens right up to where i can't turn by hand. i have checked for runout with a dial indicator, the bearing clearance was checked at .024.

any ideas? this is my first real build, machine shop is reputable yet have not called me back, the bearing faces look fine and i can spin the crank with a ratchet. i don't know if this is normal but don't think so. shouldn't the crank spin as easy as when the caps are off? sorry so long but i don't know what to do and i've spent a lot of money, thanks

Breakaway torque can sometimes fool you. If it spins REALLY nice with a ratchet once you get it going then I would say your fine--However, Why don't you check the clearances and know for sure? J.Rob

Make sure the caps are not turned around, the notches for the bearings face each other.
If that is correct, and it is just the #3 bearing, it may be the radius of the crank journal contacting the #3 bearing radius. On my 500, I scraped the bearing radius with a deburing tool where I noticed some contact.

Also make sure the #3 main cap isn't spreading the bearing. Check the thickness of the thrust service on the block and cap.

If you cant spin it by hand i would say something wrong. This happened to me with a small block and the main that has the thrust bearings (center) was not ground wide enough from factory. All my clearances checked good with plastiguage, but would not turn by hand.

Have you knocked the crank back & forth to allighn #3 cap? , endfloat can be anywhere you desire dependant on cap position.

I hope you mean clearance is .0024 not .024. My bet is you still have issues with the crank radius contacting the bearings. See if there are any "witness" marks on the bearing halves after you have spun it with the ratchet.

May need more clearance for the radius on the bearings. Did you set the crank after hitting it on the rear and nose a few times with a big rubber hammer???

What lube are you using? If assembbly lube or grease clean the cranksahft and bearings and try 10W30 or 5W20 like I use, let us know one way or the other. If the line bore is correct, main bearing clearances are correct and no contact with the crankshaft against the any of the bearing due to radius fillet issues the crank should easily turn by hand, especially if the main seal is not installed yet. Even with both halves of the main seal in and torque it should still rotate by hand by grabbing the snout and turning left or right easily with out a strain at all

yes, i meant .0024". i set the thrust with a pry bar. here's the thing i can torque caps #1, #3 (thrust), and it spins beautifully. after further scraping on #5 bearing, i can now also torque it and spin the crank freely. now it is just #2 and #4 that cause binding. i have now taken a knife to these bearings twice and the machine shop did this once already. could this just be the radius needing more bearing removed? seems i already took quite a bit off the bearings already. anybody know how much difference between a clevite regular and narrow main bearing? thanks for all the ideas everyone, appreciate it.

yea send it back to the chinese

maybe the cranks bent

cab, my machinist gave me some joe gibbs break in oil to use for assembly. there were witness marks where the radius is but i scraped the bearings up to if not past those marks. also the crank spins fine at 30 ft pounds on all the mains but once #2 and #4 are torqued past that it gets real stiff, at full torque it takes almost 25 lb/ft to spin?

It sounds like you are using studs. I had a like issue where a Stud was touching a cap internally and when torqued, my end play would go away. I put a stock bolt in and all was fine. I had to have the cap opened up .030" and the stud worked fine.

Do this. Just install #2 & #4 only, and see what happens. Then if ok add #1, check it, then # 5 and check it. See what happens there first. Do not install #3 up to this point.