Anyone ever have problems with excessive clearance in the main thrust bearing (on the crank) that resulted in the flywheel contacting the rear of the engine? It makes a hellish scraping/grinding sound that tends to go away when the engine warms up. I have pulled the tranny and flywheel and revealed the tell-tale wear patterns of this problem.

My question is: Can I replace the thrust bearing without pulling the engine? The truck is a 99 regular cab F350 with a V10 and a ZF 5 speed manual transmission. Truck has 60K miles! What should the crank end play specification be? Any tips are welcome!

 

Stop,you are looking where to see this scraping ?if your looking at the flywheel scraping on the spacer plate between the flywheel and the rear of the engine block.you might have a warped spacer plate from heat.Ive seen this on mine.we had to replace it.
Did you actually measure the endplay of the crank? by dial indicator ?
the edplay spec is 0,075mm-0.377mm don't have the inches spec

Rich

 

Looks like the thrust "washers" are around the #6 main bearing.



I have heard about thrust washers going bad, not sure whether it was the V8 or V10, but it was related to a belt squeal that no one could figure out.

I'd figure the end-play to be around .010", I can't find my service manual CD right now... someone else will be along presently

Don't be surprised if you need a new crank - I know the V10 crank is steel, so that might save you, and you might get away with replacing the washers and not having the flywheel hit, but it might start happening again over time...

art k.

 

Thanks Rich and Art for your quick replies!

Yes, the flywheel is grinding against the spacer plate. I will check the end play against the specifications you gave me with a dial indicator.

If I have to replace the thrust washers, can I do it from the underside without removing the engine?

 

That endplay Rich gave you is .0029-.0148 inches. Just divide mm's by 25.4 to get inches.

I would THEORIZE that you could possible change them with the engine in the truck. I don't know though, isn't there a cross-member right under the front half of the pan?

You probably have to take off the #6 maincap - and the maincap bolts are torque-to-yield, so you CAN NOT reuse them.

If the belt isn't squealing, and there's no THUNK when you get on and get off the gas (end-play), and more importantly, when you step on and let off the clutch, there's no THUNK (end-play), I think Rich is right about the spacer plate.

Or, get some shim stock and start shimming the flywheel out from the crankshaft .... WARNING: That was a JOKE...

art k.

 

Oooh... here's a question: When you hear the scraping noise, step on the clutch, does it get louder? If not, that might not be endplay.

 

Crankshaft endplay is .005". Well within specs. I guess I'll just replace the spacer plate and move on!


Thanks for the help!

 

Nice and tight!

I wonder what the "nominal" end-play spec is...

 

That was about what I expected for endplay on 63k engine.
With good care.oil changes.
Thats alot easier than replacing main bearings in my book.
Rich