Hard Cranks

["Bruce Hevner" <scramblr@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lynn,
>Well, I'm glad to see that I have generated some chatter across the ether.
Some people think that nitriding is super expensive, but it is not. In fact,
we >nitride BY THE POUND, with a 100lb. minimum.
>Therefore, the more cranks we have in a run, the cheaper it is. Example: if
you sent a crank from Ohio to the shop in Portland, Or, and did not have a
>UPS account, it would run about $170 to ship the crank both ways. (We
prefer Forward Air) This is more than $100 over the cost of the nitriding.

Well that's certainly a LOT cheaper than it used to be (I haven't checked in
years). I think it used to cost about $250-$300 EACH!! Don't get me wrong
I'm NOT against this process,, I'm FOR it, IF it can be done at a reasonable
cost and IF you can guaranty straightness. We were experiencing .002-.004
bend from end to end. It WILL reduce wear of the crankshaft. In fact I have
a 390 crank that was Hard Chromed YEARS ago that I might send you to see if
it can be saved. Do you have a hardness tester?? Shoot me some numbers.

>We feel that any crank that might be cut beyond the factory hardness level
will be better for the process. (does anyone know what depth the AMC >cranks
were hardened to from the factory?

That was my question in the beginning. WHAT IS the hardness level of factory
AMC cranks?? I contend (though I can not prove since I have not had one
tested) that they are no "harder" than any other stock crank. I may be
wrong,,, but I MAY be right (cue the Billy Joel music!!).
  It's really pretty easy to get an idea of the hardness of an item,, just
give it the "file test". While not scientific by any stretch it does give
you an idea of the general hardness of an item.  A Nitrided item (and I am
fully aware there are different levels of hardness that can be obtained) is
difficult or impossible to file with a common hand file. It will feel like
you are trying to file a piece of glass!! Just slides right over it. This
has NOT been the case with ANY of the AMC cranks I have checked.
 And of the Honda cranks we have turned that WERE nitrided the thickness was
less than about .003.
But hey,,,, that's just ME!!
Bruce Hevner