[Vwdiesel] Why #3 Miser's view

[Mark Shepherd]

Never thought about this before; so just applying my natural feel for
things and some logic. As it's been stated loading on the crank increases
as you head from 1 to 4.So  with equally supported bearings it would be
expected that #4 would go first. However it seems to me that its not just
increases of angular torque that's detrimental; but the ability of the
crank to flex. #4 being supported better perhaps by the bearing behind the
flywheel. It could be that the combining resonances create a peak in the
standing wave vibrations that hit that spot.

 Remember that bit of night time reading I compiled about crank damping?

Control experiments might include taking power off the pulley instead in
some form of generation system perhaps and seeing if #2 failed instead.
This of course assumesthat bearing behind pulley is as robust as at fly
wheel.
A less ambitious project might be to see which # fails under no load but
over revving....
Miser