With the belts loose, the end play measurement should be just about effortless. I can do it on the race car any time.
That 80 pounds is out of the question. Even a plain bearing from a piston engine would have trouble with that. The thrust plate is not all that stiff, and can also be damaged by prying on the crank fore and aft.
Lynn E. Hanover
In a message dated 4/18/2008 6:57:46 PM Pacific Daylight Time, downing.j@sbcglobal.net writes:
Lynn, the dial indicator came today and coupling is end loaded and requires nearly 80#'s of push to move the E - Shaft forward to get a .003 reading. I talked with Ray Fiset twice for about 30 seconds each time before his cell phone dropped me and got a recording in French, 5 more times, drat, those guys sure could use a course in business management. I sent him a fax on Wednesday and haven't received a reply as of yet. The address for Dave Leonard's web site was very helpful and I will replace the bronze pilot bearing with the ball bearing next week and if I still can't contact Ray, I will replace the tapered drive pins with straight ones and try and get the project in the air. JohnD