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Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:14 pm

Just picked up a crank at the grinder. Now $90 + "shop fee". to get the mains & rods ground. Almost forced to use a new Chinese crank at these rates. I'll keep using OG cranks for now but at some point it won't be economicaly justified.

Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:38 pm

That's what it should cost.
Get a job hippie

Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:45 pm

Damnit! can't find the laughing my ass off imoticon!

Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:08 pm

Crank grinding is way down these days. People would rather buy a crank kit than pay someone to grind their own crank anyhow.
Buy yourself a crank grinder. They are about $5000 for a old 50's version. Then see how long it takes to pay it off.

Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:33 pm

My last crank cost 90 to grind.... That was a few years ago.

Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:09 pm

I had one done about 10 months ago...$100...

Dale

Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:39 pm

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:03 pm

:lol:
Seriously I dumped $90 into the gas tank this morning then went and burned it all up. At least you can still see you're crank.

Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:58 pm

crank grinder,one that can do it right, now a guy that can operate it right, and give a shit what kind of work he is putting out, and now pay him, pay the electric,the ac bill, cleaning the crank, checking the crank,finishing the crank properly and having a guy that will stand there all day long grinding cranks&only grinding cranks all day long and you still are not going to pay for that machine if your paying the guy doing the work a good wage. I have some good std cranks on the shelf, but I have never used a oe stock vw crank, probably wont, but if I do I have them, otherwize I use the cranks that are out there new now, do they all come from china?? I dont have a clue they dont have the gold china sticker on them, so I assume there all from cali, as thats where I get them from......kinda like my wifes honda...made in marrysvills ohio. or the neibors hundi made in alabama, and the kia plant is just east of it neer the georiga alabama line.bmw southcarolina, mersadies alabama, vw has plants in tenn, chatanooga&kingston/noxville. chrysler in canada,gm in canada, ford just about everywhere, but obama saved detroit and what cars are made there now??hmm if they would start making some performance parts(they have the know how&the equipment&the laborforce) would you then buy it from detroit?... or would they have to ship it to cali first. Im sure the steel mills would love to start making a lot of quality steel for this stuff at some good prices so they could sell more and help bring back the jobs. roy has been making heads for a good while now in wisconsin,I dont think he is getting ritch fast but he has a job&has employes and makes a great product, many great products.and he is compeating with the china stuff.but a better product as far as I have seen. I remember the $40 crank regrind on v8 stuff 25 years ago,I dont have a clue as to how much it is now. i dont trust anybody to do it but a very few crankshaft companys. as for vw I would send it to DPR, as I do for my balancing when I need to since I nolonger have a balancer.

Thu Aug 01, 2013 12:07 am

Gotta pay to play!

Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:51 am

E-mail sent

Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:55 pm

Gotta job, never was a hippie but I do remember when it was $30 for a crank grind. I just wanted to bitch but I'm getting no sympathy.

Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:23 pm

I bought my bug brand new in 75. It was $2200. A sort of comparable one today is $22,000. A 10 fold increase in price. A crank grind back then was 30 bucks. So the crank grind only tripled. What a bargain. :D

Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:34 pm

You come to the samba for sympathy? You would of had better luck Saying "remember when a crank regrind was 30 bucks?"

Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:52 pm

satterley_sr wrote: Gotta job, never was a hippie but I do remember when it was $30 for a crank grind. I just wanted to bitch but I'm getting no sympathy.

Yeah, no sympathy here. My $600 paint job on my first Beetle in 92, now runs about $3000, and my 50 Split I bought in 95 for $1500 probably couldn't be touched for less than $10,000 in 2013. Welcome to the wild wonderful world of classic cars, and ever increasing prices to stay in the hobby. I only wished I was like my friend Dennis' buddy that bought a numbers matching 70 Hemi Cuda in 1980 for $3000. And you don't want to know what it would cost for that, or the offers he's turned down from those who have since tried to buy it.

Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:28 pm

The only way you can get a $30 re-grind is if you send 1000 cores to them each time. Then the shop might be able to do that.

The setup of that machine is pretty tedious for any grind. SEtup, trial grinds before you even put the actual part on it. It is not like you just throw the part on it and start grinding. This is precision work.

Not to mention if you wanted the journals micro-polished in addition to.

$100 for a grinds is not really much. These machines are EXPENSIVE!

I did a little grinding on my Storm Vulcan but had to rebuild the top carriage coz I wanted a super-tight tolerance so I am re-scraping the ways. I will just have to lap the surfaces and should be like new.

Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:00 pm

Must depend on where you live and how much overhead they have to pay because there are 3 grinders near me that charge anywhere from $38 to $65 per crankshaft.
If I have 10 cranks the one guy will turn them for $28 each.
All have been turning cranks for over 25 years and I never had a problem with any of these guys.

Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:04 pm

satterley_sr wrote: I just wanted to bitch but I'm getting no sympathy.
Welcome to the Samba.

Lets move on.