G'day Andy.
I haven't got a crank handy so I measured a few rods.
Max side play of the rod on the journal is 0.024". All my rods (both A7 and A10) are 0.955" so that would make the journal width 0.979" MAX. I'd be comfortable with 0.020" side play making the journal width of 0.975".
Cheers
Peter got in 1st so we're pretty close.