[Bruce Lancaster]

On the floor, forces would be only the crank's own weight pushing down against the fulcrum of whatever lump of crank is resting against the surface, or sag at the journals.
Think about the crank in the car with engine not running...you have the flywheel and clutch, or on some the fluid coupling full of oil, pulling down on the crank hanging off the rear bearing. Clutch and flywheel might approach the weight of the crank itself...why isn't thay worse than flat storage?? Shouldn't we be hanging our cars up by the front bumper, or perhaps building motorized rotisseries to even things out while parked?