Actually, I have experience with both cast, and forged crankshafts. The straightening procedures that work on forgings definitely won't succeed on a casting, and vice versa. After building up the journals with a swubmerged-arc crankshaft welder on a Caterpillar D-6 crankshaft that stands over 6 feet tall, and weighs a thousand pounds or so, it's often necessary to use a 10-ton hydraulic press and a rosebud torch to get the main bearings close enough to alignment to allow the regrinding process to proceed. That's a forged shaft. The crank for the old 216 is a casting, and it would crack if it's straightened in a press. Like it or not, all protests aside, CAST IRON BENDS! Experienced crankshaft technicians have been straightening cranks with hammers for longer than any of us have been alive. It works!
Jerry
