Mrcrowley If the bearings are so tight that you can't physically move the crank, that's a pretty good indication that the bearings aren't the right size - so "yes" in your case, I'd say the use of plasti-gauge wouldn't work.
However, when you get the crank back from the machine shop, with the bearings, I would just do a quick check w/ the plasti-gauge to verify that the machine shop got things right. They DO make mistakes, sometimes!
Here's a video on how to use plasti-gauge.
P.S. Did you lube the bearings and crank journals before torquing things down? Just curious. BTW, you should not use assembly lube when you are checking things with plasti-gauge; needs to be bone dry. If you didn't lube the crank and bearings before torquing them, it isn't likely gonna move one bit.
P.P.S. Also, please (as @MazdaMitch stated) keep all your comments on this topic within the same thread. We all are trying to help you, but it's getting tedious chasing the topic around when there's 2-5 threads about the same thing or are at least related.
