ACL .040" main bearings for the 401

46flattie

From another thread in the "wanted" forum I was made aware of the .040" ACL main bearings from Performance American Style. Has anyone used these in a 401? Does anyone know if they are also available for the rod bearings in .040". I couldn't find a listing and have left a phone message and e-mail request w/no return follow-up from PAS. Thanks, Scott

Dusty

Highly recommend having the crank built up and reground. it takes a really god shop to do this right but its worth the piece of mind few shops do it but its worth the money. i dont like going past .030 bearings.

jeepsr4ever

Dusty wrote
Highly recommend having the crank built up and reground. it takes a really god shop to do this right but its worth the piece of mind

few shops do it but its worth the money. i dont like going past .030 bearings.

:mrgreen: Dusty to make a 401 stroked you need to offset grind the crank (rods)

46flattie

Dusty wrote
Highly recommend having the crank built up and reground. it takes a really god shop to do this right but its worth the piece of mind

few shops do it but its worth the money. i dont like going past .030 bearings.

I hear you on the really good shop part. I had my last crank welded and reground by a shop and it broke! Fortunately it did no damage to the rest of the motor. I have another crank that is turned .030/.030 and it looks like the mains would clean up at .040. The rods look pretty good and may only require a little polishing. Anyhow that's my plan to get my 401 back in and running. In the meantime I have another complete 401 that I plan to do a complete build-up on and have ready to go in as time and money permit. (I should add that my current 401, while it's still a strong motor, it is bored .040" and has been rebuilt a few times over the course of its abused life. Therefore my main goal is to get by w/it for a while I rebuild a virgin motor.)

jeepsr4ever

Any 401 cranks you have that wont clean up I would love to have :mrgreen:

Dusty

:!: i wasnt thinking of him stroking her, i was just suggesting having a good machine shop build back up the material on the crank and then grind her back down so a std bearing could be run. My old 401 sufferd from .040 bearings by a previous owner and for $200 i had the crank built back up and re ground to take a std bearings and shes still going 10 years later

46flattie

Dusty wrote
:!: i wasnt thinking of him stroking her, i was just suggesting having a good machine shop build back up the material on the crank and then grind her back down so a std bearing could be run. My old 401 sufferd from .040 bearings by a previous owner and for $200 i had the crank built back up and re ground to take a std bearings and shes still going 10 years later

How did your mains suffer w/.040" bearings?

Scott

Dusty

at about 2 years old and less than 30k miles she piggy backed a bearing. who knows what her life was before that though but in my hands with the stock cam and stock intake she wasnt able to rev very high and always had 15/40 motor oil and after talking to the machinist hes the one who told me building up the crank and having it reground was a smarter path than running th e .040 bearings and i have stuck to that since.

46flattie

Dusty, I noticed your 401 is in an 8. Mine is as well. I'm running a T-176/300 combo behind it. The rest of my set-up is 4" lift w/custom spring shackle reversal and integrated winch mount, D44 rear w/spool, 33X10.50 BFG MT's, full soft top, etc. Right now the '74 401 is .040 over w/1970 forged TRW pistons, Edelbrock preformer cam, intake and carb. For exhaust I just switched to the Edelbrock shorty headers w/dual 2.25" pipe into a flowmaster muffler w/single 3" out. I use my scrambler for a daily driver/off-road and backcountry camping. I used to run a CJ-7 for about 13 yrs, but I'll never go back after the owning an 8!

Dusty

i actually may go back to a 7 because i got more tied up in the 8 than i have in my daily driver. LOL :shock: Im running coils front with RE long arms and wagoneer rear leafs SOA Highsteer. the biggest mistake i made. i had a narrowed D60 which is 54.5" WMS and the front is a narrowed D44 57"WMS those were narrowed 5 years ago for a SUA CJ7 worked good in that but are too narrow for where im at now. 35's with the NV4500/D300 honestly if i find a NP435 or a T-18 combo its going in in place of the NV4500, even on the highway i never use the OD enough to justify the driveline woes it gives me. Also i probably would do a carb and performer intake next time. My 401 this go around has the speed pro pistons but with the Edelborck heads comes out with a 10.2:1 compression ratio. the cam is a .512lift 226 dur@.050 276 adv dur on a 112 lobe seperation single pattern and runs really good, idles down to 400 no problem but the fuel injection just cant always seem to keep up. Also running Edelbrock fuel injection which is why i say probably would go carb next time. got the shortie headers, love them. If i could part the thing out, make most of the money back and start from scratch i would. Lots i would change but hind sight is 20/20. the 8 is great for on the road ect but the old 7 really came in handy for those short narrow trails that my 8 take a 3 point turn to make and the 7 did in 1 LOL also storage of the 8 is becoming more of an issue these days

46flattie

Dusty wrote
ihonestly if i find a NP435 or a T-18 combo its going in in place of the NV4500, even on the highway i never use the OD enough to justify the driveline woes it gives me. the 8 is great for on the road ect but the old 7 really came in handy for those short narrow trails that my 8 take a 3 point turn to make and the 7 did in 1 LOL also storage of the 8 is becoming more of an issue these days

I was always wishing for one of those NV4500's, but I sure hear about more guys being disappointed w/them......a lot of complaints about the gear ratios inbetween gears. I've been very happy w/the T-176 ratios and I've run them behind my 401 for years. The only issue I've honestly had were 2:

I wore out a shift fork where the shift lever nests (213,000 miles)
Driver error....chipped a tooth rocking from 1st to reverse while snow wheeling.

The T18 and NP435 are stronger though.

As far as turning radius, I have noticed the same thing.........hell I think my Grand Wagoneer has a sharper turn radius and it has a SOA front w/dropped pitman arm.

Scott

jeepsr4ever

Ok we located a source but all .040 mains are 7 weeks out and only 70 sets will be made. I am hoping we get 20 sets at least

46flattie

jeepsr4ever wrote
Ok we located a source but all .040 mains are 7 weeks out and only 70 sets will be made. I am hoping we get 20 sets at least

Any idea on cost? I'm assuming they will be ACL or King based on the PAS website?

Thanks,
Scott