QUOTE
Originally posted by cannondale27
It was suggested to me that maybe the crank pin wasnt hardened.
In looking at it closer the bearing race and sides are one piece.It was also suggested that there might have been a bearing cage in there.
I'd doubt the pin wasn't hardened. If that wasn't your original crank, it was for someone and it had certainly been ridden before. If it hadn't been hardened, it would have been unusable when Wink rebuilt it. That's obviously just speculation, but everything were saying is pretty much speculation, isn't it. The Rockwell # would tell you. Try PM'ing Kram and 4Strokemadman, maybe they'll see the pm's. Better yet, can't we send e-mails through the forum? Try that.
As for the bearing, more speculation- I don't believe a needle bearing like the one you showed us is going to have a cage. A cylindrical roller bearing, yes, but not a needle bearing. Wink could definitely give the definitive answr on this. Timbomoose could also share what he's seen. He's had them apart, too.
I think you had mentioned crank float. That's definitely a potential culprit in my eyes. There is a spec for crank float after assembly and I've seen that our engines can be out of that spec. I didn't have an indicator handy to find out how far, but I know it was over. This could be shimmed, but it would take some time to figure out where and how much to shim. It would definitely be time well spent. It would probably have to be remeasured on every engine. I wouldn't count on there being a standard number to shim them all to.