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Got the old cam out (collapsed lifter burned a lobe). Noticed the front bearing wouldnt spin but its not discolored and the bearing spots on cam dont look terrible (first time swapping a cam so not alot of experience to go off, but they do look like they got 150k on em imo). I tried using a wooden dowel rod to reach in and spin the other bearings but none of them spin. So im assuming 5 bearings didnt all go bad. Is it common for the bearings to be so tight you cannot spin wm by hand? LC9 5.3. I saw no sign of metal shaving.
I'm not completely sure if this is what you're asking, but they are supposed to be a fairly heavy press fit in the block. They are not supposed to "spin". The cam is supposed to spin inside them.
The front one looks fine. FAR better than most used cam bearings, for that matter. I'd recommend leaving them alone and just putting your new (not used stock) cam in. Make sure you get a new cam retainer plate, if one doesn't come in your gasket set: it has a seal on the back of it that seals up the oil passages at the front of the motor, and when it leaks, it can allow a massive amount of pressurized oil to escape, leading to low oil pressure complaints. You definitely don't want that.
09-19-2021, 07:54 AM
Should cam bearing spin freely?
