Clearances, Tolerances and Other Errors -

The misuse of the terms "clearance" and "tolerance" in contemporary technical writing appears to be
an increasingly frequent occurrence, which interferes with the clear communication of technical
information. (For further evidence of our deficient and degenerating education system, see BELOW.)
"Writers" who should know better often treat these two terms as if they refer to the same concept, and
as if they are therefore interchangeable. More than a few of these writers blather on with self-
bestowed authority, while perpetuating manifest technical and grammatical errors. This short page is
an attempt to clarify, within the context of mechanisms and manufacturing, the meaning of the two
terms "clearance" and "tolerance" and the obvious differences between them.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary contains four different definitions for the word "tolerance". The
definition ( non-politically-correct ) which is applicable to this context is: "the allowable deviation
from a standard; especially the range of variation permitted in maintaining a specified
dimension in machining a component."
That same dictionary contains three basic definitions (and multiple examples) of the word
"clearance". The definition which applies to this context is: "the distance by which one
object clears another, or the clear space between them."
Stated simply, CLEARANCE is the distance between the adjacent surfaces of mating parts (how
much the mating parts CLEAR each other), while TOLERANCE is the allowable variation of a
dimension from its nominal (desired) value ( the amount of error one will TOLERATE ).
As an example, let's discuss the fit between the main journals of a crankshaft and the engine
bearings which support that crankshaft (and allow it to rotate with relatively low friction). Suppose we
have a crankshaft in which all the main bearing journal outside diameters (OD) are exactly the
nominal (desired, ideal) diameter of 2.4488 inches. Further, suppose that the inside diameter (ID) of
all the main bearing bores in the engine block arel exactly the nominal of 2.6411 and that all the main
bearing shells are exactly the nominal thickness of 0.0953.
Basic arithmetic reveals that the ID of the main bearings (as installed in the block) will be 2.4505.
2.6411 - (2 x 0.0953) = 2.4505
Further basic arithmetic reveals that the crankshaft journal OD's are 0.0017 smaller than the main
bearing ID's.
2.4505 - 2.4488 = 0.0017
That difference (0.0017) is the bearing CLEARANCE, (the distance by which the journal outside
surface CLEARS the bearing inside surface). That clearance, as explained in the engine
bearings page, has a dramatic effect on the load carrying and frictional properties of the journal-
bearing system. That 0.0017 nominal value, BTW, is a good number for this size bearings in a
production engine for a road vehicle.
In real life, however, it is a rare case when the dimensions of a manufactured component are all
exactly nominal. Contemporary manufacturing processes enable parts to be made with ever smaller
variations from nominal at an acceptable cost; however, variations still do occur. Those variations
from the nominal dimension are the TOLERANCES applied to the part ( the variation from nominal
that will be TOLERATED ).
Going back to the example, the production TOLERANCE on the 2.4488 crankshaft journal OD is +/-
0.0005 (plus-or-minus 0.0005 inches), which means that any particular journal can have a diameter
anywhere from 2.4483 to 2.4493 (a variation of 0.001 total). Similarly, the manufacturing tolerance on
the main bearing bores in the block (in this example) is +/- 0.0005, which means that the ID of any
main bearing bore can vary from 2.6406 to 2.6416. If we ignore the tolerance in the bearing shell
thickness (assume that all bearing shells have the nominal 0.0953 thickness), then the journal and
bore tolerances mean that the production clearance between any main journal OD and its mating
main bearing ID can vary from as little as 0.0007 (2.6406 bore and 2.4493 journal) to as much as
0.0027 inches ( a 2.6416 bore and a 2.4483 journal).
Naturally, in a precision high-performance engine, the bearing clearances are held to a much smaller
tolerance (+/- 0.0001), but have a (typically) larger clearance (0.0026). Those very small tolerances,
coupled with appropriate clearances and exact axial alignments, can produce an engine in which the
crankshaft, with all 5 main bearings torqued to spec, and with the front and rear oil seals installed, can
be spun with the flick of the wrist and would make you think the crank was running in rolling element
bearings instead of journal bearings.

STRENGTH vs. STIFFNESS

The following material is an attempt to explain the apparently-universal misunderstanding of the two
different concepts of STRENGTH and STIFFNESS..
Metal parts are not rigid. When a load is applied to a metal part, the part deflects in response to the
load. The deflection can be very small (crankshaft, conrod, etc.) or it can be quite large (valvesprings,
etc). But to one degree or another, all parts behave like springs in response to a load. The
ultimate strength of a material is a measure of the STRESS LEVEL which can be applied to a lab
sample of the material before it fractures. The degree to which a given part resists deflection in
response to a given loading is called stiffness.
It is important to understand that the ultimate strength of a material has nothing whatever to
do with the stiffness of a component. STIFFNESS (or RIGIDITY) is the result of two properties of a
part: (1) the Young's Modulus of the material (sometimes called Modulus of Elasticity, but more
appropriately named Modulus of Rigidity) and the cross-sectional properties of the part to which the
load is applied.