1320 main bearing holder wobble

[lanranger]

I have a Ford/New Holland 1320 with a Shibaura 3 cylinder diesel (Japanese, of course) and am rebuilding the motor. The crankshaft, main bearing holders and engine block are different than I have ever seen in all my experiences with gas motors. The main bearing holders are completely encased by the block. In fact, to reassemble, you actually install your main bearing holders (with bearings) onto the crankshaft and then you install the crankshaft thru the rear of the block. There are three main bearing holders (front, middle and rear) and the only difference between the three is that the rear bearing holder has a recessed area on the front and back to hold thrust washers. There is also one main bearing that is in the front of the block. It is pressed into the block (similar to a camshaft bearing.)
I had the crankshaft checked by a tried and true machine shop man and it did not need to be turned and showed to still be within “standard” so I ordered standard bearings to replace the standard bearings that came out of it.
ISSUE: After reassembling the bearing holders onto the crankshaft (with the new bearings) and torque to 39ft lbs(spec), I noticed that they all wobble front to back just a little bit (guestimate .050” wobble.) The first thing I did was disassemble the front and middle main bearing holders, removed the bearings and compared my new bearings to the old bearings and they both measured .080”. I then reassembled the bearing holders onto the crankshaft (with the old bearings) and they also wobble the same amount.
QUESTION: Will this wobble be non-existent once the crankshaft is reassembled into the block because of the way this engine is designed?

 

[IH3444]

Diesel engines "sink" the cranks deeper into the engine blocks than mostly all gas engines. It's sounds like you maybe have a missing thrust bearing. The crank should not have 0.050" of play, more like 0.005". The thrust bearing on some diesel engines is at the middle main bearing. I'm going to look into my TC48/55 shop manual and see how my 4 banger is set up. Crankshaft endplay is just another critical detail when rebuilding your engine, so particular care needs to be taken. Don't over look this.

 

[IH3444]

My TC48/55 shop manual shows in section 10, engine, chapter 2, page 10-17, that the thrust bearings are on the flywheel side of the crank, on the main bearing. It consists of three thrust bearing inserts, two on the bottom, and a single thrust bearing on the top. On the Volkswagen diesel engines I have rebuilt, the thrust bearings are at the inner main bearing.