Balancing - 3 Things You Should *Never* Do (Expo 2024 - Episode 16)

In this segment we head down to the shop floor to talk to the most well-balanced man in performance engines, CWT Industries’ Randy Neal, about three mistakes you should never make when balancing a crankshaft.
From bobweight location to drilling out counterweights, Neal covers the big balancing mistakes people make, and how to avoid them.
As a bonus, he also dispels some myths about over-balancing versus under-balancing, and why you should always lighten the piston rather than the crank.
(Segment originally aired live on January 11, 2024)
‪@CWTINDUSTRIES‬ #balancing #crank #crankshaft #dosanddonts #machineshop #enginebuilder #performanceengine

[@flinch622]

Apparently... Randy is the man. I don't think I heard anyone mention drilling limitations in such detail before.

[@georgedreisch2662]

Enlightening to the voodoo of engine balancing and the importance of finding someone competent to accomplish it.

[@ChiefCabioch]

The "frequency" he mentioned is why most American inline 6s start shedding flywheels and balancers, over 7000rpm, go to fully counterweighted cranks with Titanium rods and light pistons and you can buzz the inline 6s to "10,000" rpm, but the counterweights must reflect the lighter parts.

[@irench]

Great video. As a long time engine builder, tech, racer, and shop owner. Subscribing to the lighten the reciprocating not rotating has been my argument for decades. However, this is new ideas and they are subject to a couple questions. Like 1st, when measuring for the weights and saying we split the rod into its two weights. The rod journal, throws, counters, and big end of the rod could be considered as reciprocating mass as it is subject to angular velocity as a whole. I agree with keeping the integrity of crank in status but some of the cranks we used in the days of old were not gun drilled as most are today. So we did a lot of that or replaced them if you had the doe in the budget to buy the upgrade. Racing in claimer class stuff usually doesn't allow. We used to lighten rods when aluminum wasn't allowed. Even get wrist pin and piston funny with JE or Wisco custom pistons making the reciprocating light. We even built measurable cylinders for the tech inspect that the math said was under CI limit but the other 7 were significantly larger. Ain't no replacement for. How does he feel about the rod getting lighter and how when aluminum or stock rods are required. Like "clears throat" grinding all the weights n stress off of stock rod like Vizard did to that grenade they built. Seems like this guy really has a handle on extended knowledge of the lower end. Love the technical term., " pissed off"

[@WFORadio]

Smart... CWT machines are super cool.

[@johnnystanley4469]

Great info and content thanks for sharing

[@pauljanssen7594]

Good video on balancing I used to love to do the balancing on the engines Mercedes was probably the only engine that we would bounce it didn't even need any holes drilled. I was going to say don't drill The bouncing holes in the main journals or rod journals haha just a joke.

[@tomstrum6259]

02:00 ....If that handy weight Spacer doesn't exactly Center the counterweight (Like Your rods Will), seems the Computed balance data & resulting Dynamic running engine balance will be Consistently wrong also (If 0.10" horizontal placement inconsistency has "Scary" effects)...I would use a custom Width spacer unique for Specific crank journal Centerline.....

[@PCMenten]

The design of OEM crankshafts has overlap of the cross-section of the main journals and the rod journals. That’s why main journals get bigger as stroke gets bigger. This makes the crank stiff. Stroker cranks generally have less of this overlap and are less stiff.

[@ChiefCabioch]

Rpm is the reason for overbalance its changes the center of mass, when an Aluminum Rod stretches .050 changes the center of mass, or steel stretches .035, move the piston, pin, locks and small end that much and your bobweight is no longer accurate....example one rod is going up when the rod on the same journal is headed down on a V8 whether 90° or 180° configuration.

[@leonardfoster6252]

Heavy metal added to crank to balance assy. should be drill horizontal thru the counter weights...

[@bigboreracing356]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE's crankshaft is polished by yours truly😎

[@justingarewal]

He’s not kidding, he talked me through the whole process a few years back when I called.

[@robinocrawford8490]

so when he built that tool to lock in the bob weight , is that a specific dimension to keep it centered on the rod throw ? or just consistent to keep the repeat

[@1magnit]

What about concentric bobweights and your ones, adding them up as vectors?

[@blueyhis.zarsoff1147]

We need a vid on 2nd order balance

[@EnginePerformanceExpo]

We'll let Randy Neal know. He loves balancing.

[@leonardfoster6252]

On race engines I have them balanced at 53%.

[@scotts439]

Lake should consider switching to decaf.

[@leonardfoster6252]

What percent are you balancing the crank?

[@suntzu5836]

Are the loads (misbalance) exponential to RPM?

[@FABRIC8TIONUNLIMITE1]

How about a Vid. on ''Knife Edging'' Cranks? Good or Bad?

[@Milkmans_Son]

What he says at 11m05s makes it sound bad to me.

[@Grooty79]

​@@Milkmans_Son yep knife edging is BAD

[@Grooty79]

Pendulum undercut counter weights seem to be the only way to properly lighten a crank in my eyes BUT stroke is limited with this style depending on crank design, all my cranks get detailed and aeroed before balance and yes I have the best balancing guru in my area 😊 such a good video and I've been telling people that knife edging was bad for 20 years and most don't listen 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@deadsimpleband6922]

Bob weight location is critical but he doesn't tell us where it should be.

[@ChiefCabioch]

Centered on the throw to .005" digital calipers are accurate enough cause rod side clearance is around .018 for steel and .050 for aluminum

[@patrickwendling6759]

Thank you for your knowledge and videos USA 🇺🇸 TRUMP 2024 2024

[@samstewart4807]

lake speed ruins another good video

[@earlbrown]

I'll take your word for it. Every time I see him pop up on a video, I can't turn it off fast enough. His screen presence is AWFUL.

[@danielwilson6665]

I get the point. But for comparisons sake, just consider the extremely hyperactive demeanor of John Force when interviewed after making a pass. His level of intensity is off the charts because he truly loves what he’s doing. I think he’s the greatest. The same can be said about Lake although his chosen career is vastly different than Force. I don’t know Lake but I think he is the best at what he does. His seemingly aggressive personality is clearly a direct result of how much he loves his job. As seen in this video, when he’s around other professionals that he can relate to, his hyper personality is very evident. He’s just trying to share information about a specific topic that very few people understand. A few tokes of sticky bud might just slow him down to sub-sonic speed that all can relate to 🏁✌🏻

[@1crazypj]

Don't lighten the crank? I think he should have said be careful how and where you lighten crank. The one they are playing with has been lightened significantly compared to a stock crank. There are area's on bob-weights that can be lightened without causing loss of strength in torsion or flex. It's been known since 1940's that cross drilling crank-pins actually males crank stronger and less likely to crack. Overall, pretty worthless video as it didn't really have very much information and could have been a 'short'

[@graemerichmond1425]

LOL.... you guys should sell stay sharp knives. WAY TOO yank for the rest of the world. I made it to 2 mins and the voices were just too annoying to listen to!