[Jim Williams]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the input. These measurements I took were on the gear just after the left side case was pulled off, with the crank, intermediate shaft, and old bearings still in place. I wouldn't think that bearing crush would be much of a factor in an "open case" measurement, as the crush should occur on the bottoms as well as the tops of the bearing shells, sort of averaging out the movement of the gear in the "towards" as well as the "away" movement of the gear shaft in the direction of the crank.

I'm hoping that there will be others to chime in, as I hate not knowing about things that are in these engines that might affect either perfomance or durability. BA's handbook addresses making the measurement, and uses the same numbers as are in the little "spec" books, but he doesn't address what needs to happen if the measurement numbers fall outside the quoted ones.