Other Crankshafts - What and Where to Buy???

[mikidymac]

I’m not defending them but as long as they sort out decent cores they are reusing the weights and webs just like any shop would just like competitive. They don’t reuse the bearings or rods.

Now to the quality of their bearings and rods I’m not sure on that. I know years ago when they first opened they were using a bad Chinese supplier and they even admitted they had failures but have since changed years ago and there aren’t failures all the time being reported on the forums like back in the early days.

I don’t like anything SBT makes because it is lesser quality Chinese parts. Compare their Gaskets and everything else and it isn’t as good as OEM or WSM.

I have installed a few of their engines for friends that wanted a warranty and they are still going strong. I haven’t personally seen one of their engines or cranks fail.

At $980 for a new oem, $600-$800 for a top rebuild and $250 for an SBT I think most people doing a stock to mild rebuild are going with SBT.

 

[mikidymac]

Maybe @JetManiac could comment on failure rates since he sells more than anybody and is honest about what he sells.

 

[Ross]

I had a SBT crank in my rebuilt Kawasaki 800 that was in a Krash Predator for 2 years. I beat the piss out of it in surf with no issues. When the engine sat for the following 2 years the bearings did rust despite having oil on them. My guess is that the SBT cranks just wont last as long as oem due to cheaper materials. But I agree, Jetmaniac is going to be one of the best people to ask.

 

[long beach local]

I have been using SBT cranks which I have purchased 3 from Jet Maniac and highly recommend them. The price is very low imo and the quality is good. I still am running 1 of them in a 61x and it has hundreds of trouble free hours in surf ,salt water wide open around buoys etc. I have abused this engine and it still runs great. Although somehow I never sunk the ski in the surf so the crank has never been wet. Any bearings will rust OEM or whatever. I still have a new SBT crank in the box that is going in my next rebuild,

 

[2lick]

All good info and experiences from everyone, thanks for sharing!
Keep in mind, there is no one right answer.

No one right right crank for every application. I can see where the SBT is a great option and where a guy may want to spend on OEM.