A computer aided study to predict the effect of radial clearance on stability parameters and journal center motion trajectories of a hydrodynamic journal bearing is presented. A Reynold’s equation governing fluid-flow in the clearance space is discretized with four noded quadrilateral isoparametric type of elements implementing finite element method technique. The stiffness parameters are obtained using perturbation method, whereas the damping parameters are obtained by differentiating pressure derivative with respect to journal center motion. In the current study, the influence of clearance parameter on critical mass along with threshold speed for different eccentricity ratio is investigated. Linear as well as Nonlinear journal motion trajectories are computed by solving the equations of motion with fourth order Runge Kutta iterative method. It is reported that nonlinear motion trajectories gives enhanced stability margin in terms of the critical mass than that of linear motion trajectories.