Is there a way to take up play on a Chevy 250?

There are several ways to do this on other engines. Some of them have bearings with oversize widths on the thrust bearings. The only other option is to weld the thrust flange on the crank and then have it fit to the bearing you will be using. I have never known any company to offer the os thrust bearing sets for these engines, so that only leaves welding the flange back up. How much endplay do you have currently? In case someone suggests offsetting the bearing shells as an option, decline it. This is a sure way to burn the thrust out of the crank, and tell them no thanks.

I am not advocating this but back in the day when bearings were shimmed and pistons were knurled to make repairs with used parts thrust surfaces were peened to spread the copper and make the overall thrust surface thicker. My dad did this with a small center punch, a ball peen hammer, a flat file, and a lot of time and experience. Dimpling the copper pushed some of the metal from the center to the edge of the dimple making the over all surface thicker. Then through trial and error it was taken back to the needed thickness.

It's only metal and end play specs are only guidelines.