3.0 gurus

[TEXAS20225]

i have a 2000 225 EFI i just started to build up (my first one) even though i have built a slew of 2.0,2.4,2.5 motors im always cautious in unfamiliar water and as usual i hit a snag right off the bat i bought new center main bearings (the double row kind) man what a pain to set them up :( after i set the crank in the block and rotated it it felt like the were bumps on the journals is this common or is the crank junk it does not look bad or feel bad turned slowy it made no sound but spun fast with a hand crank it sound terrible :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::confused::confused::confused:

[mrcrsr]

last one i put together didn't do that, better recheck everything

[ChrisCarsonMarine]

You most likely have some contamination in the center mains,all it takes is a tiny piece of hard dust in the grease you held the needles in place with to trip the rollers and make the whole crank bind and push the races up,take um back apart,clean,reassemble with assymbly grease or fresh Vaseline.After the needles are in place and the races are in place put a tie wrap around them to safely hold them together while you dilute and wash out the grease with solvent and spinning of the bearing.If not diluted and washed out the grease can cause the needles to slide on the first few rotations of the crank,wearing microscopic flats on the needles that can shorten their life.I was taught this many years ago by a very knowledgable merc guy,back in the loose needle(uncaged)inline days,it has worked well and made sense to me,Chris

[TEXAS20225]

yes i have since taken everything back apart and i realized the races must have been switched not only that i got the new and old needles mixed sort of a slam-bang theater theasco so i cannot in good faith assemble it and sell it so ive ordered new races and bearings and im starting over with a different view of these motors. thats a good idea Chris on washing the grease out after they are tie wrapped i dont think i would ever have thought of that thats what alarmed me first time when they were packed with grease the were super quite and smooth when i started washing down with fuel/ oil mixture thats when noise showed up thanks for the replies next time ill buy a later model crank shaft