Broken SBC crankshaft

[joespanova]

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Well my season ended early at the Jackson pro am last weekend. The crankshaft broke right behind the #8 rod journal. Several runs before the broken crank I had an oil pump snap off at the neck and fell into the pan. The engine was completely freshened and had the crank turned .010. Might have been some residual damage from the oil pump hitting the crank. Also the #4 main bearing was burned pretty bad. Other than the #4 main all of the other bearings looked good. What are some of you using for crankshafts. I think the one in the engine might have been an Eagle lightweight. Super Stock 350/295/313 SBC 2.00" rod journals. Thanks.

BRC 4340 .........which has chromed rod journals. This crank has been through hell.........passes mag check , straightness every time.
First time , ( in '01 ) a Manley aluminum rod broke. Crank kicked it right through the block.
Last year.......
I lost an engine from what I thought was a rod failure ( aluminum ) and turned out to be an oil pump bypass spring breaking ( no oil pressure ) .
Sent the rod through the block , again.
Last time.........recent , apparently the damage from the previous carnage above fractured / cracked the oil pump drive shaft and I didnt see it.............it broke , and I lost oil pressure AGAIN , only this time I caught it before it killed everything. Polished crank , sent rods to GRP for evaluation.........they replaced 2 rods because they were a little out of shape on the big end. And let me just say this.........GRP is a stand up company because they replaced those 2 rods at ZERO charge to me.
Those rods had 14 runs on them at the time.
So as you can see , my crank / cranks take a beating and come back for more.........