Motor Rebuild: Extremely Difficult to Turn Over by Hand

[matpoh]

Working on finishing some motor work and I have been following the manual and have gotten stuck. I have the cams back in and everything seems to be going smooth and all timing marks line up. After I installed the tensioner, the manual says to turn the motor over several times and this is where I am running into issues. When I try to turn it by hand, a socket with 18" breaker bar will barely turn it. I can get it to go all the way around, turned it several times, and the marks line back up but I am thinking it shouldn't be that difficult to turn by hand. Just looking for some reassurance before I disassemble to look for something I missed. Any suggestions?

 

[Srxspec]

Did you turn the motor over after installing the rods & pistons to the crank? Did you turn the motor over after installing the lower half of the crankcase and torquing it? It should only take 10 ft lbs of force to rotate the motor over with cams, etc all installed.

 

[matpoh]

Exactly. I still haven't taken it back apart again but would estimate it takes 40lbs of torque to get it started and then once it is moving, 10lbs seems accurate. No I was not turning it over every step like I should have. In your opinion, should I continue assembly or begin disassembly?

 

[Srxspec]

I would pull the cams out first and turn it over, then pull the head off, and keep going step by step until you find the culprit.