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Crank welding


JasonB

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I keep seeing people that have thrown pipes/increased compression/advanced timing/cylinder porting and other stuff on their stock un-welded cranks and don’t even seem nervous about being on borrowed time. Is a welded stock crank really necessary with basic bolts ons? Obviously theres all kinds of horror stories out there about failures but theres also got to be a shit ton of people just out beating on their bikes not having problems so you never hear about them.

 

Im about to ad timing/compression/air filters/reeds/pipes and a few other things to my newly purchased bone stock 06 in preparation for a week at Glamis in February. We are pulling the motor this weekend to leak down and compression test followed by having the stock crank welded plus either rehone/rering the stock cylinders or have them bored depending on how things look if bores are still round. I keep seeing all these people running stock unwelded cranks and it has me fighting the urge to half ass things by skipping the crank welding since im probably just going to tear the thing apart after Glamis for a 4mil build anyways. It is cheap insurance for the trip though; 100 bucks to have the crank welded and another 50 bucks in rings/gaskets/seals to pull it apart for a refresh VS chancing the crank failing me during  the trip at any time. Shit I don’t know. Going to have it welded and trued for sure, Im just wondering what your guys thoughts are about how often stock cranks really fail when not welded 

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Totally needed. As you said, you have heard the horror stories. The top crank killers are timing and compression. (There's also the guy that can't tune) Adding either timing or compression or both, puts additional stress on the crank. If you are pulling it all apart, it would be foolish to not tend to it.

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I always recommend it and make sure customers know the risk , with that said I've put a lot of killer top halves together the key is not getting greedy with compression or timing a nice lil blend and shee will last , there's just too many variables to guarantee you won't break at glamis, you could weld it and still break it , you could leave it and it could last for years.

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I always recommend it and make sure customers know the risk , with that said I've put a lot of killer top halves together the key is not getting greedy with compression or timing a nice lil blend and shee will last , there's just too many variables to guarantee you won't break at glamis, you could weld it and still break it , you could leave it and it could last for years.

I completely agree.  I'm in the same boat here, getting a full rebuild up and going for presidents day in Glamis.  Had everything checked and rebuilt including the crank, money well spent in my opinion.

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This crank welding business is weird. Ive built a ton of banshees,several variations of 4mil hi compression and lower compression. Stock stroke everything etc.   Not one time have i had one crank welded and  not one time have i had a crank problem.  In fact in my garage i have a 4mil drag port with cpi inframes,33pwk's,+4 timing,noss head runs on 1/2 93 1/2 race fuel,and a normal old 4mil hot rods.  Had it together for 3+ years and no crank problem.   But not to knock anyone who swears on it,to each his own. Guess im just lucky.

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Sleeper ported OEM jugs and custom cut my domes for straight 110 race gas and tuned it aggressively and advanced the timing per my request. He did tell me I've got to watch my compression even thought I have forged pistons and run straight 110 the crank becomes the weak point. So Sleeper set me up aggressive but not dangerous. When I'm ready to pull the trigger on my new 7mil I will make sure the new crank is welded for sure! So far my banshee is the fastest it's ever been since I owned it thanks to Sleeper so whatever advice or recommendations he gives me I listen..

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I bought a brandnew banshee in 2000. Bone stock except paddles. I was playing around in the field, then my fat morbidly obese brother wanted to ride it. He Started hole shotting wide open dumping the clutch. Then I got back on and felt a vibration. My crank spun and started to come apart. So begun the breakdown for the first time.

 

Moral of the story, with the right load it can and will come out of true.

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