I have a lot of play in my crankshaft at the front gear. it almost feels separated from the rest of the crank, but the engine was running with a knock when i tore into it to investigate. Is there a thrust bearing that I can change? Kind of hard to tell from the manual. do I have to take the crank out to change the bearings? Any help and pics of the crank bearings would be great! Its a 05 2.8 crd

Unless the crank pulley is very loose, this sounds VERY bad. Do not run!

DOC

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2005 KJ CRD Ltd Detroit TrueTrac Bilsteins G2 GDE "HOT" ECU GDE TCM "Tow Tune" "euro" TC SEGR Weeks Elbow New HG at 130K ARPs Clean CAT aFe Filter Magnaflow Exhaust EHM Cumminos In-Tank Lift Pump Hayden Fan Clutch Nylon Fan VH Enabled with GDE lower shutoff point Recalibrated Temp Gauge Tekonsha Prodigy Sears P-1 ZDDP

How are you measuring crankshaft end play?
How are you able to pull on the crankshaft nose to make it move?
Are you sure its not the crank pulley just sliding back and forth on the nose?

Seriously, the only way to check and replace the crankshaft bearings is to completely
tear down the motor and remove the crankshaft.

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U.S. Army Retired

I have the crank timing pulley off and garbing the nose of the crank. took the oil pump cover off and the drive gear on the crank was chafing on the cover.

do I have to remove the pistons to get the crank out? or is it posable to pull the crank without removing the head?

You are going to want to be absolutely sure before you start removing the crankshaft.
I know of nobody who has torn the motor completely down and removed the crank.
The first thing you may want to do is remove the oil pan, look for pieces of metal, and look
up at the crank journals.

To get the crankshaft out, you first have to remove the cylinder head. Then, if you haven't
already, remove the oil pan.
Then remove the balance shaft assembly.
Then unbolt the connecting rods from the crank and slide the pistons out the top of the block.
Now, the crankshaft slides out the back of the block. So you can either:
a. remove the transmission so you can slide the crank out and keep the block in the Jeep.
or
b. remove the engine completely, set it on the floor and remove the crank.
Either way you will have to drop the tranny so it just depends on which is easier to work with.

How many miles are on your engine?

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U.S. Army Retired

Bout it in VA from a guy that put the motor in from a wrecked doner hit in the front end. That should have bin my first clue. he said it had 84,000 he replaced the timing belt and water pump, I verified that was true. but he said the compression was good and the crank was good so he did not go in to the lower end. I drove it for 2 months and it started knocking at idle and went away above 1500 rpm. found the crank gear that drives the oil pump hitting the cover and i could move the shaft fwd and back way to much and it has to much up and down play. SO I GOT SCREWED!!!!!!!!!!! Not much i can do about it now but fix it.