I called crankworks and they said the best way to repar it is to weld the crank journal and then machine it to spec. Motorgeek, any thoughts on which method would be a more durable fix? Maybe PM me a price quote to get my crank right?

There are a few ways to repair the worn main bearing saddle on the crank half.  We have to make a decision what is most important.  Cost of repair and or strength of the repaired area.

Welding up the area then precision grinding to the correct diameter is an option but welding is going to affect the metal properties and weaken this area.  I have seen a few cranks break in this area which is apparently weak in stock form.  I do not think welding is the proper approach especially if the engine is making a lot of power and turning a lot of RPM.

Turning the end of the crank and installing a sleeve is another option but this fix is also going to weaken this fragile area of the crank.  The strength will be reduced to that of a crank shaft that has the same inside diameter of the sleeve.   Again I do not think that we need to make the shaft any weaker.

I believe the best way is to grind the bearing saddle undersized to make room for hard chrome.  Building up this area with hard chrome and then precision grinding it back to the correct dimension is the best way but is also the most expensive. 

At this time, buying a new crank half is the most economical and you will get the strongest crank assembly when done.

Everyone should save all of there old cranks and crank halves.  Some day we will need these crank cores to keep these machines running.

We can provide any of the above services, welding, sleeving or hard chroming but a new crank half will be cheaper.