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Could someone please explain to me what this is all about?
I have heard of some folks who knock the crank forward then back, others who knock it back then forward. And then there are others that just knock it forward and torque the mains.
So which is it? Also how snug or loose are the main caps during all this "knocking"?
After you torque it, strike it from the front, and then the rear with a brass hammer. This will seat the thrust bearing.It makes no difference which way.
Ford shop manual says torque all mains to specs except the thrust cap, pry crank rearward and cap forward then torque to specs. Check final endplay with dial indicator.
The way we set the thrust cap on all of our engines is to run the bolts on the thrust cap in until they are a little snug, do it enough and you will develop a feel for it, it can also take a couple trys to get it set properly, after the caps are snug I use either a dead blow hammer or a hammer and block of wood to hit the crank to the rear of the block one good blow and then to the front of the block one good blow. Always finish up by driving the crank towards the front of the block since all the load from the convertor or clutch comes from the rear of the engine towards the front. After this I finish torquing the caps and check the end play with a dial indicator and look for at least .004 to .006 thrust.