Stiff crank

[Halflife]

Just put the crank back in my 150 s3 motor. New seals and bearings. Seems really stiff to turn now .

I'm going to take it out and change the seal but wondered if anyone else had had a similar problem after a rebuild?

[HxPaul]

When rebuilt with new driveside and mag seals,the crank is normally harder to turn,but if the crank isn't rubbing and it still feels abnormally stiff,the lip on either the driveside seal or the mag seal may have been turned.

[Adam_Winstone]

Very normal for a crank to be stiff to turn on new seals, however, lots of people are having issue with the drive side gasket (originally described as halite washer) being too thick, which makes the drive plate sit slightly higher than it should and to put pressure on the crank web when assembled. NB: a change of gasket, to one of the correct thickness, is often enough to make the difference required.

Make sure that any new drive side retaining screws that you may have used are not longer than the originals and/or that the threaded holes are tapped sufficiently deep to take them, otherwise this can also result in the plate touching the web.

Adam

[Halflife]

New Rolf seal fitted, drifted crank instead of pulling in and turned regularly as going in. Problem solved. Thanks everyone