I think I have everything to do a cam swap. Except the tool used to hold the lifters up. What else can be used in its place?

 

Get some wooden dowl rods (around 3/8") and whittle a wedge on one end to help slide it in. Some people buy 16 pen magnets from the parts store and stick them to the lifters and then bend the pocket clip on them out and hang them on the edge of the head. I would prefer the dowl rod method if it was me.

 

what MJ said


pen magnets or dowel rods... 3/8th or 5/16ths and shave one side a little bit

 

when I put my cam in, I didn't use anything to hold the lifters. It is quite widely known that the lifter alignment system on these gen III and gen IV engines holds the lifters up on the bore with the pushrods and rocker arms removed. I was a little skeptical of this being my truck has almost 95,000 miles, but it worked great. all you do is rotate the cam a few times with the valvetrain out and you are good to go. it almost seems too easy but it really works. I would spin it and then try and see how much pressure is required to push them back dow just to be sure but you should be alright.

 

It can work (BTW, the lifter cups hold them), however it doesn't always work. I'd rather spend the extra $2 and 2 minutes getting some Wooden dowels (which I used) than have to worry about a dropped lifter.
Philip S.

 

I have never used anything but I have talked to people that used to never use anything that always use the dowl rods now. All it takes is 1 lifter to fall 1 time and you have to pull the head to retrieve it.

 

we had one in a 00 5.3 that wouldnt stay up.. when you turned the cam you could feel/hear the lifter going up and down.. if the cam had come out, she was gonna drop

90% of the time they wont drop... but you never know. Espically if it takes you awhile to get the truck apart. The longer it sits cooling down the more chance one could drop i think

 

Yea i think it would be better to be safe than sorry. Spin the cam and slide the dowel rods and forget about it. Im all about insurance.

 

So what size is dowel pins do I need.

 

5/16. On one of them you may need to shave a little. I used one dowel, and cut it in half.