While doing some other general maintenance to my '01 1500 (5.2L, 180k miles), I saw something on the crank. It's a gouge and rough spot on the face of one of the counterweights.

I've attached a pic. The side the scratch is on faces the front of the truck. Does this look like a problem or is it just cosmetic?

I can't see anything that might be making contact with it as I turn the crank (manually). I've been working on the truck for a while now to replace head gaskets, but only recently dropped the oil pan, so I can't think of anything I might have done to cause this.

Before I started on this project, the truck wasn't running in a way that would make me think damage like this was happening. Just an occasional rough idle, misfire code, failed compression test, etc. Could a misfiring plug cause scoring like this (seems unlikely given the angle, but I don't want to assume anything)?

I'll be dropping the tranny soon to replace a flexplate I damaged earlier, so now would be as good a time as any to replace the crank as any. Should I plan to do so or is it ok to leave it alone?

Thanks.

 

It's hard to tell from the pic. Is that a crack, or a rough spot left over from the casting of the crank. A rough spot/ridge left over from the casting and machine work is fine. A crack will need to be looked into further.

 

I agree, something that would gouge and damage a crankshaft there would be noticed. I suspect it is just a casting mark. Not everything gets ground and polished. On the face of the counter weight it would not hurt anything.

 

Prolly been there for 180k.

 

I don't believe it's a crack. Knowing that it's possible for a mark like this to be left there after casting explains it. I didn't know how much effort went into to making sure the surfaces were smooth.

 

Thanks for all the replies. It's definitely what I was hoping to hear. I'm really ready to get my truck back together and back on the road.

I wasn't sure whether all the surfaces had to be smoothed for proper balance -- or even if a mark like that would be made to remove material in order to get good balance. Good to know that it's just a cosmetic flaw.

 

Not much effort at all. The effort goes into getting the bearing areas within tolerances. The rest of the crank is checked for balance and not much else. Cost is everything during assembly so pretty is out, balanced is in.