I'll share my experiences with hot rods crankshafts with you guys to maybe save you some headaches. I've had three cranks fail on me and I was very disappointed every time. Save your money and buy a better crank.
Ok so here it goes.
My first hot rods crank came in a 1999 honda cr 250 that I bought, I rode the bike for about a month and then the motor died on me one day. I was totally stumped on what had happened. While I was riding it was like somebody hit the kill switch. The bike slowed to a stop and that was it. What was mind blowing was that the motor never locked up, I could still kick the bike over, but it seemed very hard to kick. So I go back home and pull the cylinder, I was amazed what had happened to my crank. My hot rods crank shaft pretty much cracked in half. The crack started by the connecting rod and eventually made it all the way down both webs. When the crank finally let go it started to rub my cases which made enough drag to kill the bike while I was riding. When I rebuilt the bike I installed a wiseco crank, it turns out that wiseco cranks are also made by hotrods. I'll explain more about that later.
My second hot rods crank was purchased brand new from a power sports dealership near my house. The crank was going into my 1998 Kawasaki SXI PRO. I bought the crank because that's all they happened to carry and it was much cheaper than a new oem crank. I was hoping that the new hot rods crank would last much longer than the one in my dirt bike. The guy at the parts department assured me that hot rods made good cranks, he said the one in my bike must of had a bunch of hours on it. Anyway I get my ski back together in early June. When I rebuilt my engine I decided to hop it up a bit. My motor had a group K hammer kit setup for 92 octane. The ski ran great all summer and one day in September my ski decided not to start. I was really confused on what had happened because I only stopped to take a break. I was really baffled on what had happened. I thought I had an electrical issue which was part of the problem, but the crank was the main issue. What really happened was my crank started to separate at the center webs. My hot rods crank actually gained about 1/4' in length while it was in my cases. As my crank grew it cracked my cases at the front of my engine, which killed my crank seal and eventually my stator. Once I had the motor stripped down the damage was real visible. You could see rub marks on cases and the front bearing had some cracks in it. I was informed that if I had my crank trued and welded this would end my problems. I sent out my POS hot rods crank to Jeff at http://www.competitivecrankshafts.com/ so it could be repaired properly. When the crank arrived Jeff called me and explained that my 3 month old hot rods crank was toast. I was told that hot rods run very poor tolerances on their Kawasaki 750/800 cranks and that was the main issue that I had. I ended up buying a rebuild oem crank from Jeff and I haven't had any problems since. I ran that crank for two seasons before I sold the ski and the new owner said it's still running strong.
While I was on the phone with Jeff he also explained that it's typical to see the hot rods cranks for Yamaha twins crack in half. I was amazed when I head this, how could somebody make such a crappy product and still sell it? A few weeks later I read on pwc today that somebody also had a Yamaha hot rods crank break in half. From what I have seen the hot rods cranks in general are no good, especially the watercraft cranks.
My third hot rods cranks was not stamped hot rods, I bought it in a wiseco bottom end rebuild kit for my 1999 Honda cr250. I was hoping to have good luck with the wiseco kit, but I didn't have good luck at all. Right after I assembled the bike I noticed that it had a weird sound, a sound that I've never heard before. I had a mechanic take a look and he said that it was a loud crank bearing and it would eventually fail. I decided to roll the dice and ride the bike anyway. The bike worked flawless (except for the loud bearing) for 68 hours. One day while I was riding I head my engine make a funny sound, before I could even think about it the motor locked up and I skidded to a stop. Right then I knew my motor was ed. I was not stoked at all. When I took the motor apart I learned that pretty much everything was destroyed. My crank cracked in half (again) and it ruined both of my cases, my piston, my head and my cylinder. When the crank came apart a piece of it broke the skirt off of the piston, which killed the cases. The crank also broke the skirt off of my cylinder, which pretty much totaled it. To this day that is the only time I have seen a skirt get broken off of a cylinder. After this super fun event I gave Jeff a call and explained what had happened. This is when I learned that wiseco cranks are made my hot rods so it's the same crappy quality. My bike has been apart ever since that day. (about 2 years ago) Hopefully I'll have it going again soon, I recently bought a used oem crank that I plan on having rebuilt soon.
Out of my three experiences I have learned that Hot Rods cranks are garbage. I still own my hot rods ski crank and I use it all the time when I'm riding, I have a rope attached to it so I can anchor my skis. So far an anchor is the only good use of a hot rods crank that I can think of. After all of my headaches I learned that new oem or rebuilt oem is the only way to go.
Here is my short and sweet conclusion. Hot Rods cranks are garbage, they make a better boat anchor than they do a crankshaft. Save yourself time and money by buying a new oem crank or a rebuild oem crank.
Has anyone else had problems with hot rods? I know I can't be the only one.