The reconditioning of worn crankshaft main bearings and crankpin journals of ship diesel engines is commonly realized by mechanically grinding to a reduced diameter. This procedure has some drawbacks. According to elastostatics as described in [1], the bending stiffness of a cylindrical geometry which is pivot-mounted on two edges has a proportional dependence on the diameter d by d4. It follows that decreasing a crankshaft’s diameter causes a strongly decreasing stiffness. Another drawback is that tailored bearing shells with matched diameters need to be produced which is a costly procedure. A much more convenient approach to repair worn bearing journals is to apply a method which builds up the original contour. Laser cladding is a suitable process that has been qualified for many other applications where a local heat input and low distortion is demanded [2, 3]. Moreover, the process has advanced to state of the art in surface treatment technologies during the past decade [4, 5]. Especially high power diode lasers have proved for this process [6, 7]. The achievable coating qualities are well suited for bearing journal surfaces. Required mechanical properties like hardness and friction behavior can be adjusted and improved in comparison to the original material