Why couldn't they be ballbearing ones?
The crankshaft doesn't move sideway because thrust washers...
IMO ballbearings have less friction so they seem to be more proper than thrust bearings.
Any ideas or knowledge?

 

that woulds actually be kinda cool, I don't see why it wouldn't work

 

Excessive heat? Much more rotational mass?

 

Installation? No shock absorption from the oil film? Loss of precision?

Look at bearing failure in transmissions. They see much "better" conditions than an engine bearing.

 

Not as much surface area?

 

Less friction riding on an oil film than the small contact area of a ball or roller.
Glenn

 

It's been done in motorcycles.

First off, NOT ball bearings but roller bearings.

The problem is that you have to dis-assemble the crankshaft in order to install the bearing assembly. Think about this, normal bearings are just a half shell and you place them around the crankshaft bearing surface. A roller bearing has to have a one piece outter race!!

Wes

 

Because they don't need to be rollers.The oil has a boundry layer and the crank never should touch the bearings if everything is correct.Roller bearings are common in high end domestic racing engines for the camshaft.The design of most domestic motors has the pressures from the springs pushing down on the cam sometimes over riding the oil's boundry layer and comming into contact w/the bearings.

 

Ed is right. The crank is not riding on the bearings, its riding on the oil layer.

 

Let's not even mention what this would do to the cost of a production vehicle.