544 crankshaft

Anonymous-0 · Jul 21, 2009

I broke the crankshaft in my 544 mowing hay a couple of weeks ago. My question is how hard is it to replace the crank in this tractor? We are some pretty good shade tree mechanics but I don"t want to get this thing split and then not be able to get it back together. I bought a 656 to get me through haying season and I will have some questions on that tractor as well. By the way both tractors are deisel.

Owen Aaland · Jul 21, 2009

Without knowing more about the condition of the engine it is hard to give a good answer. We need to know why the first shaft broke. Did it do any damage to the block or rods? What is the overall condition of the engine.

If the engine has had crankshaft problems in the past it is possible that the shaft has been turned because if a bearing failure. That may have caused some damage that was unknown and the break now was a result of the previous damage. In that case you may be able to get by with simply replacing the crankshaft and bearings.

On the other end of the scale the block may be warped causing misalignment of the crankshaft bores. That would mean the block would have to line bored to be usable again.

A failed bearing may have caused the crankshaft to break and also allowed debris to contaminate the entire engine. In that case a complete disassemble and cleaning would be required to make a successful repair.

MIKE FRENCH · Jul 21, 2009

better know what you are doing on this engine, they have an internal balancer drove off the crankshaft, it has to be timed correctly, most likey there is more problems inside than just the crank, good luck

Anonymous-0 · Jul 22, 2009

There doesn't appear to be any other damage inside the block. This engine was rebuilt 7 years ago and has ran just fine up until the crank broke. All the bearings are fine in it and there was no metal in the oil. I am still trying to figure out why the crank broke I think it was just a freak deal. The crank broke in the metal between the rod journal and a main bearing journal just on one side. Any body seen this before?

Owen Aaland · Jul 22, 2009

(quoted from post at 05:31:15 07/22/09) There doesn't appear to be any other damage inside the block. This engine was rebuilt 7 years ago and has ran just fine up until the crank broke. All the bearings are fine in it and there was no metal in the oil. I am still trying to figure out why the crank broke I think it was just a freak deal. The crank broke in the metal between the rod journal and a main bearing journal just on one side. Any body seen this before?

That is usually where they break.

Did the crank have undersize bearings in it? If it did it is quite possible that it had a damaged journal that affected the hardening in the shaft. There are also some crankshafts that can not be reground at all and others that must be rehardened after regrinding. They will look fine after regrinding but will fail in use. I have seen quite a few that did this.

544 crankshaft

Anonymous-0

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Owen Aaland

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MIKE FRENCH

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Anonymous-0

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Owen Aaland

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