CC FE350 Crank problem

[buggyAl]

I recently acquired a 2000 CarryAll Turf II. Seller represented that the motor was locked up. "Bad Motor". I started to tear it down and was quite surprised. see photos below.

However, when I got this cleaned up the crank wouldn't turn. So, I proceeded to remove the flywheel. There was in fact more debris behind the flywheel. At this point I thought that I was on the right path and maybe had gotten a super deal. Still no movement in the crankshaft.

I removed the side case cover and there were no pieces or parts loose or falling out, there was no sign of metal in the residual oil in the bottom of the case. What I did find was that the right side counter weight connecting rod had seized to the crankshaft.

The only solution was to cut the seized connecting rod with a dye grinder. Once cut, I could rotate the crankshaft, remove the timing gear and unbolt the piston connecting rod. I proceeded to slide the crankshaft out. This was all the easy stuff.

The images below shows the remaining portion of the seized rod on the crankshaft.

What I am looking for is?:
A) Is there a method to save the crankshaft?
B) Or is the crankshaft worth saving?

The piston, cylinder, block, head and everything else looks very good. The cart has about 2400 hours on it. I am looking for suggestions on an economical solution.

Thanks for your input.

[CP241]

With oil starvation that's always the first link rod to go.

You'll need a shop press to remove the gears and the link rod. You could try and cut it out with a dremel.if you dont have a press.

For economical I'd just remove both link rods and the counterbalance weight. New rings, possibly rod depending on how that one looks. Put it back together and roll.

The motor will run fine without a counterbalance weight and you wont have to worry about it coming loose and blowing a hole in the back of the motor when it does. It WILL have a noticeable vibration at idle and low speeds but as you get moving, it smooths out. You get used to it pretty quickly. Its noticeable but not awful.

Alternatively I'm not sure about the 350 but I know on the 290 you can replace the rods and bearings inside them. In that case you will need to press off the gear. Theyee not real expensive but also depending on how "budget" you want to keep it, not completely necessary either. A lot of the guys that build these motors for performance will remove them just because its probably the biggest failure point in the motor.

[buggyAl]

Thanks CP241,

I plan on attempting to remove the gear in the morning. Being that the counterbalance rod bearing failed and has seized to the crank, will the crank be OK?

[CP241]

Measure the rod journal carefully but it's probably fine. If you run without the CB weight I dont think you'll have any problems

You WILL need a shop press though. It's on there good

[Fairtax4me]

That crank is toast. You can see the discoloration from the journal overheating.

The outer link rod is the weak point on the 350. Frequent oil changes are a must, or the outer link rod starves when the oil gets too thin. It will usually knock for quite a while before it breaks, and while it's knocking it's slowly trashing the journal on the crank.