Storing crankshafts vertical - old wives' tale

[larry_in_socal]

I'm downsizing and organizing my garage stuff and I'm planning on putting my engine parts in one large plastic tote. If I recall when I last visited my local machine shop, I noticed all of the crankshafts up right and vertical, is this some old wives' tale that storing a crankshaft horizontal could end up "warping"it ? Right now I currently have my crankshaft wrapped in plastic, sprayed  with WD40, and in a box in the vertical position. Thoughts ?

 

[Hans]

Errr.....they're stored horizontally while in the car for 50 years.... i suspect the reason is less shelf space per stored crank. Earthquake could be a probem.

You'll  be fine. I would use an oil fog spray myself.

[uai]

WD40 is a bad idea for storage.
Really do not use WD40 to conserve blank metal as WD40 has acidic content to break rust.
If you haven't got anything special use normal motor oil, or better something specialised - like branorost VCI paper, or if you're looking for something to spray on here in germany there's hölterol,  or use gun oil, even cavity wax, or grease - all is better than WD40

just no WD40 

Edited January 30, 2023 by uai

[tzei]

i use grease - lots of it.

[TobyB]

Fluid film, here- 

it works pretty good so far.  Caveat- wipe it on after spraying-

it sprays pretty coarse, and unless you drench the object, it leaves dry spots

that it may or may not creep over to cover.

 

As to bending a crank by storing it on its side-  someone made that up.

 

t

 

[jimk]

I think the only bending that occurs is when whoever is picking it up bends over.

[Son of Marty]

There may have been a bit of truth back when cars were running cast cranks in straight 6 and 8 engines but metallurgy has come a long way from back then.

[larry_in_socal]

All,

 

thanks for the insight..

 

I didn't know that WD40 was acidic.

 

I'll work on cleaning it up and using grease instead.  Man, i appreciate you guys, I'm always learning something new.

 

My goal is to neatly put all my engine parts in plastic totes, I have plans to rebuild, but for now into the totes...

 

thanks,

 

Larry

[Mike Self]

17 hours ago, tzei said:

i use grease - lots of it.

+1 on grease:  i use wheel bearing grease, slathered on each journal, the nose and the flywheel flange with a scrap piece of cloth wrapped around each.  The a light coat of grease on the other surfaces, and a heavy weight clear plastic bag to keep things clean.

[Conserv]

If the vertical storage thing is just a myth, then why, pray tell, are these vintage Cadillacs stored this way?  😋

[tzei]

Cranks don’t bend so why not?

+ takes less space which is a problem in that location.

Engines stays in perfect steady temp & humidy = turn key, off you go. Oh and front blinkers are harder to steal.

[kbmb02]

9 hours ago, tzei said:

Cranks don’t bend so why not?

 

I know (presume) you’re talking about cranks not bending in storage….

 

But - under some non-storage circumstances - our M10 cranks do bend.

(I’ve measured not a few with runout beyond spec). -KB

Edited February 1, 2023 by kbmb02

[tzei]

Yes it’s not uncommon thing with ICE’s and i think this is where this tale originates. Was the used crank measured before it was stored? I bet not. Measured upon install and runout detected - ”damn these are plasticine”.

 

I not an expert but i think cranks don’t have that many dislocated atoms that could move that much in normal storage temps.

[TobyB]

M20 cranks make M10s look VERY straight, indeed!

 

t

 

[kbmb02]

6 hours ago, tzei said:

I not an expert but i think cranks don’t have that many dislocated atoms that could move that much in normal storage temps.

 

My original post wasn't clear ... intended meaning was they cranks bend in non-storage events. -KB