OK, I'm not passing judgement on Crower rods in general. Just showing you what happened to one Crower at 600whp.

Note the sides of the big end of the rod. They should be perfectly flat and parallel to each other. It is not an optical illusion. The middle of the sides have bowed in to the point where the rod could not be rebuilt. Check the gap between the rod and cap on the inside of the bore and compare it to no gap on the outside parting line. New bolts could not even be installed in the rod.









I did not post this to denigrate Crower but to show that my opinions come from personal experience and I'm not trying to create a bandwagon movement.

 

I have seen the exact same thing happen on a Speed TV World Challenge touring ITR. All 3 of the remaining rods looked exactly like that, to the point where it was quite difficult to remove the bolts. The one that didn't survive put a hole in a 85mm Benson sleeved block and it was an absolute mess when we pulled it apart. Ended up getting a stock B20 from the junkyard to run the race I suppose you were running these at extremely high RPMs also? I think we were spinning to 9500++ in braking zones.

 

look at the cap and the center of the rod ... the ***** all discolored from heat... the only time i have seen that is from a spun bering.. hell the crower rod i have that spun the **** out of its bering is still straight, just discolored from the heat... it has about 8k miles at around 550hp reving 10500... b16 wtih 89mm crower stroker

can you get some pics of the inside of the journal?

 

What engine/stroke was this out of Earl? I had two different sets of LS Crower rods do almost the same thing to me but on mine the caps shifted to one side instead of bowing. There was a ledge on the side where the cap and the rod meet. The first set spun a rod bearing on me and the second I caught in time. I just thought it was caused from revving the LS stroke to high. Maybe this is a common problem.

 

Does Crower knows what`s happening with their connecting rods !?

We should E-mail them the Link to this Topic and tell them to give us their Input about the problems that these connecting rods are giving ! Because it isn`t right for people buying these and spend huge money and they will be thrown away later !

I am starting to worry about my Crowers

 

Looking at the rod its obvious that it spun a bearing. Is the spun bearing what caused it to bow or is the bow causing it to spin a bearing? Also for being a high dollar rod I sure as hell wouldnt want that to happen to me. If i remember correctly i think stan from fast-turbo, had his snap in half.

Also could the rod bolts have anything to do with this?

 

Are they the 100% steel, shot peened ones? If so they are what i have! Im not running that sort of power tho.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SlowReaction &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Looking at the rod its obvious that it spun a bearing. Is the spun bearing what caused it to bow or is the bow causing it to spin a bearing? Also for being a high dollar rod I sure as hell wouldnt want that to happen to me. If i remember correctly i think stan from fast-turbo, had his snap in half.

Also could the rod bolts have anything to do with this? </TD></TR></TABLE>


What about detonation?

 

This is one of those famous enigmas. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Did a spun rod bearing cause the BE to go out of round or did the BE going out of round cause the bearing to spin?

As for the rods bolts, don't worry about them. They are either ARP 2000 or A1, that is all that Crower uses. I just don't see anything like that happening. I have used Crowers for a long time and have never had a problem. I bent a few because of Det and Hydro, but that is my fault. I also made over 800 on a few different sets of Crowers, in a few different applications, and never had a problem.

That is just weird......

 

I'm sure the owner of this engine will come on and post about this when he sees this thread. It was basically a race only 82mm sleeved block making 600 on gas. Tune was done by a very popular tuner. You are correct, Vince, when you say "the chicken or the egg" theory. You really can't say for sure. The oil pressure was still good when the noise started. There was no black death on any of the pistons and no signs of detonation. The other 3 rods were perfect. Still it is hard to say.

I guess where my real problem with Crower is the lack of love they showed this racer. Almost $300 for one new rod and 6 replacement bolts. I know Crower sent letters to all their dealers that didn't spend enough money with them last year and put them on higher rates. The company really just seems to be in it for the $ and is showing a complete lack of customer awareness and service in this case.

Vince, you might want to mention this situation to Brian Crower. I know that his dad did not build his company based on this type of service. I also know that I am hearing too many complaints about Crower so that there has to be some truth mixed in with the bs.

 

What model Crower rod, cuz they have the econo and the race...?
And just wondering if the rods were only tourqed once and forget it, or did you re-torqe a week later after break in..?

 

econo dont cost 300 a rod, does it....

 

The Crower Econo rods look just like Eagles. These are the high dollar Crowers.
I never heard of retorquing rod bolts after break in. Nothing to break in. They were torqued multiple times for clearancing in the build process. BTW, I did not build the engine, it happens to belong to a racer friend of mine.

 

Now I'm really glad I got Pauter's.

 

Earl,

I have to agree with you on the service part. We have had a hard time even getting product out of Crower and have had to look to alternate sources for good quality products. Crower used to be such a good company to work with, but now we have had to go elsewhere and are even considering not offering their products anymore due to ETA of items ordered, and I am good friends with Brian ( not that it should make any difference )!!!

Oh well, I have nothing bad to say about the products from Crower, but their service lately leaves me to search elsewhere.

 

On the plus, they do make a nice stroker crank however

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by earl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">On the plus, they do make a nice stroker crank however </TD></TR></TABLE>

That I agree with 100%. I use Crower cranks in Ed's Mazda stock stroke replacement ( Mazda stock cranks just fall apart after 600 hp ) and I use the stroker crank in my car. I have had ZERO isues with the Crower cranks.

 

Only problem I've seen with Crower rods is inconsistencies deburring the parting lines and bearing tang reliefs. Some to none. And varies within the rod set.

Set that went into Jason's Coupe rebuild had 3 which looked as if the bearing would seat and one with a burr so bad the bearing tang wouldn't start into the rod. Set going into Brian's next week look much better but still need some work.

Jim

 

judging by the discolouration on that big end of the rod it looks like it was seriously overheated........possible spun bearing, to tight of a bearing clearance, lack of oil or poor oil qualitly........

wouldn't detonation cause some serious loading on the rods and rod bearings just like that? could have also been a tuning issue.......especially at 600+hp

 

everything can be perfect when you blow a bubble, but it's going to pop sooner or later.

 

You need to post more often earl.

Great information inside that head of yours

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by non-VTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">judging by the discolouration on that big end of the rod it looks like it was seriously overheated........possible spun bearing, to tight of a bearing clearance, lack of oil or poor oil qualitly........

wouldn't detonation cause some serious loading on the rods and rod bearings just like that? could have also been a tuning issue.......especially at 600+hp

</TD></TR></TABLE>All 4 pistons came out identical and perfect. They will be re-used. There is not much heat discoloration compared to what you normally see. As I said, oil pressure was good and tune-up was right on. Detonation can do this to a rod but there would be other signs also, as on the pistons.

 

i have NEVER seen a rod get discolored like that unless something was wrong. rods dont turn colors under normal operating conditions.

what does the pin bushing look like? how about the pin. something else had to be going on for the rod to get that hot.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by earl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">All 4 pistons came out identical and perfect. They will be re-used. There is not much heat discoloration compared to what you normally see. As I said, oil pressure was good and tune-up was right on. Detonation can do this to a rod but there would be other signs also, as on the pistons.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ya you should be able to see some discoloration in the piston if it detonated enough to do that much damage, I would get those injectors checked out.

What did the plug look like?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dragline &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Ya you should be able to see some discoloration in the piston if it detonated enough to do that much damage, I would get those injectors checked out.

What did the plug look like?</TD></TR></TABLE>

should also be able to see it on the pin