Got a busted crankshaft!

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Chris142

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Apple Valley, California
Customer had his truck towed in because the serpentine belt came off. It came off because the crankshaft broke just behind the front main bearing. I can grab the pulley and move it up and down about 1/2 inch and it's still bolted to the snout of the crank.

Hard to tell here but the pulley is too close to the water pump snout. 94 f150 and I don't think the guy has the money to fix it.

IMG_20190321_091334.webp
 
Originally Posted by KGMtech
Would a used engine be a lower cost option here?

That old of a vehicle there are probably no good used engines, maybe some rebuildable cores.
 
Assuming this is a 5.0L, check the Corral classifies for a used 302 longblock and just swap over his intake and distributor. I've done the swap and it can be done cheap, though you'll need to use the 302HO/351W firing order, but that shouldn't be an issue. IIRC this truck should still be batch-fire so the injector firing order won't be relevant.
 
….maybe time for a new truck?
25 years is a LOT to get out of a vehicle, its not like it owes him anything.
Still, rare to hear of vehicle actually breaking crankshafts these days - must have been run pretty hard.
 
Originally Posted by addyguy
….maybe time for a new truck?
25 years is a LOT to get out of a vehicle, its not like it owes him anything.
Still, rare to hear of vehicle actually breaking crankshafts these days - must have been run pretty hard.
If is mostly rust free and has a good interior and trans it would totally be worth fixing. Those old square bodies are starting to increase in value.
 
I broke one on my gas powered goped years ago from riding in the grass. It ran for about a week after that with lots if noise and a severe loss of power until I took it apart and found the cause.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
Who breaks a crankshaft? What abuse has the truck seen. What else is damaged?

It looks like the harmonic balancer has come apart. Maybe that put harmonics into the crank and causes the failure? I don't think this old guy did anything to abuse it.

I broke a crank in a 2.6 Mitsubishi about 30 years ago. That whole truck of mine was a pile from the get go.
 
You can't swing a dead cat without hitting good condition used 5.0's in Texas
There's tons of them on craigslist

Not sure about California...

I wonder how it broke?

I have several of these cranks just lying around headed to the scrap pile - all of them are good, too.

It would cost a lot to ship one to you.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
Who breaks a crankshaft? What abuse has the truck seen. What else is damaged?


Typically an imbalance would not abuse. The vehicle has lived way past design life at 24 years. Every day running is a celebration in an old rig like this.
 
This era 5.0/302 was infamous for the balancer deteriorating and failing causing massive crank vibration. That is likely what killed it, otherwise the 302 was indestructible.
 
Originally Posted by racin4ds
This era 5.0/302 was infamous for the balancer deteriorating and failing causing massive crank vibration. That is likely what killed it, otherwise the 302 was indestructible.


The harmonic balancer on my 95 5.0 Mustang started to fall apart. I caught it before anything happened. The car is still in the teardown stage.
 
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