Thread: Removing crankshaft with the head still in place

Hey Everyone. First off I searched for this on here and on the old forum, but I didn't have any luck finding my answers.

I'm just about to take the crank out on my spare motor in order to check it's condition and also to put in new bearings. Its on an engine stand, however I'd prefer to not to remove the head to remove the timing chain. I'm thinking it might be possible to just loosen the timing chain in order to get the crankshaft out. So my question is for the guys who have already done it. What are you guys doing to remove the crank shaft without removing the head?

A second question. Will blue shop towels be ok to clean the surfaces of the crank? I'm concerned with lint being left on the journals.

Lastly where are you guys getting the plastigauge needed to check bearing clearances? I went to autozone but they don't have anything that goes to the range required by the FSM.

I went to Napa, and I believe it was the Green plastigauge - the smallest they have.

I didn't remove the crank when I changed the rod bearings on my motor on the stand. You can inspect it pretty well by turning it over (rotating the crank). Unless you really need to pull the crank.

Josh

I don't see a problem doing this so long as the engine crossmember and the tranny is out the way.

I took the front cover off allowing me to get the chain off of the engine. Then the crank will come out without removing the head, no problem.

yeah simple as that, remove the front cover, remove the rear main seal housing, then loosen the chain and remove the crank.

What happens when you want to get that cover back on without mangling the head gasket? I've never been able to get it to slide back on without grabbing an edge of the gasket and f*king it up

I'm planning on changing the main bearins as well as the rod bearings. I figure since I already have the engine on a stand I might as well. Thanks guys for the info. One question when loosening the chain from the crank. Are you guys securing the top of the chain to the cam sprockets? I'm thinking this might be necessary to keep from jumping a tooth.

The way I see it, since the crank gear is absent and the chain is loose on all ends, you can simply use the colored links for alignment when you go back and install it. No reason you can't.

Otherwise you could zip-tie the chain to the cams and color the link on the bottom that lined up with the timing mark on the crank sprocket.

I prefer the 1st since it's darn easy, and accurate. The 2nd is nice though if you're paranoid and don't want to turn the cams at all .

I never had any trouble with the head gasket... =/
Try putting the head gasket side on first (if that's possible, can't remember).

I've tried that, but that cover can only go on straight, not even the slightest angle, due to the crank. I even used a small dab of RTV once to try to hold the head gasket in place, and even that wasn't enough.