Side to side crank slack ( wrong term?)

[Freddy Snottgrass]

I'm still working on a crank seal leak, mag side. I am learning as I go here so bear with me. Idunno if the leak is fixed or not, probably won't until after Thanksgiving. When pulling the magneto off the first time, I noticed I could pull the crank side to side with my fingertips. After trying to reseat the seal, the crank still slipped side to side.

Went on test ride. Thought I was good. It wasn't. Frustrated i put it away and went about my evening. Around 2am, I couldn't sleep and with that on my mind, I pulled the mag off, still slipping side to side. Tried another (maybe better) method of reseating the seal. It did go a little farther below the lip. Afterwards I noticed my crank no longer slipped side to side, before or after magneto reinstall. 2:30am test ride, I noticed my engine fourstroking, then it stalled, I'm assuming I fouled the plug. Idunno yet. I'll figure that out later.

But the crank slack. Should that be there? I'd think not but idunno about what tolerances and blah blah these have. I'd like to think that the crank slack went away with the air leak.

 

[Karl Snarl]

I'm still working on a crank seal leak, mag side. I am learning as I go here so bear with me. Idunno if the leak is fixed or not, probably won't until after Thanksgiving. When pulling the magneto off the first time, I noticed I could pull the crank side to side with my fingertips. After trying to reseat the seal, the crank still slipped side to side.

Went on test ride. Thought I was good. It wasn't. Frustrated i put it away and went about my evening. Around 2am, I couldn't sleep and with that on my mind, I pulled the mag off, still slipping side to side. Tried another (maybe better) method of reseating the seal. It did go a little farther below the lip. Afterwards I noticed my crank no longer slipped side to side, before or after magneto reinstall. 2:30am test ride, I noticed my engine fourstroking, then it stalled, I'm assuming I fouled the plug. Idunno yet. I'll figure that out later.

But the crank slack. Should that be there? I'd think not but idunno about what tolerances and blah blah these have. I'd like to think that the crank slack went away with the air leak.

If you can move the crank side to side at all, even a little, do not run that engine. It will destroy itself.

to save it, check to make sure the bearings are pressed in right. If not, change them out and press the bearings in correctly.

 

[Freddy Snottgrass]

If you can move the crank side to side at all, even a little, do not run that engine. It will destroy itself.

yeah it wont start as of now. on that 2:30am ride it was fourstroking (I had the needle rich to compensate for an airleak I didn't realize existed) -- started slowly losing power, then died. Hasn't started since. I get a little burp every now and then after a minute of trying to pedal start it, but never enough to fire up. I am tossing my spare on currently and am gonna see whats up with this one. I now have three old CG engines I can rebuild. One I loved and rode every day for a year, then parked it for over a year... doesn't run. One never ran right... and then this one which did seem to run okay other than the air leak, and I broke while fixing the airleak. I'll have fun getting these all up and going.... I am thinking I coulda bought a used Honda now...

 

[DAMIEN1307]

I am thinking I coulda bought a used Honda now...

YEP...Sucked right on down the old rabbit hole...Say hi to to Alice and the Mad Hatter for us...We will all be meeting you down there soon enough...lol...DAMIEN

 

[Freddy Snottgrass]

 

[DieselTech]

I'm pretty sure that's a bad deal there, lol might as well pull that one apart. I'm thinking your going to find something bad. Take the other cover off & move crank, does the other side move in out also?

 

[DieselTech]

Yeah you got us all intrigued now! When you tear that engine down & find the problem, you will have to post some pics for us. I'm curious what happened? Broke crank? Spun crank bearings? You will have to keep us posted.

 

[Freddy Snottgrass]

Yeah you got us all intrigued now! When you tear that engine down & find the problem, you will have to post some pics for us. I'm curious what happened? Broke crank? Spun crank bearings? You will have to keep us posted.

WIll do. WIth the engine off the bike the shaft doesn't move. It may have tension on it. I will tear it apart first chance I get. It might be a few weeks. It ran like that though and it didn't seem to have any issues other than I had to have it super rich which is odd for my altitude... until I tapped in the oil seal...

 

[Greg58]

It may not be as bad as you think, I've got one with movement that I thought would fail but hasn't. It's the fastest 48cc engine I have, I've been running it that way for two years.

 

[Greg58]

Copper or brass shims behind the bearings will take up the slack, I was planning on tearing mine back down but since it runs so good I'll wait till something happens.