The camshaft retainer plate gave me hell, but I finally got it off. Flat head torx screws are no fun...

I thread a handle bolt into the new cam (single bolt VVT) and give it a few spins. Then I insert my 5/16" wooden dowels and they fit in nice and snug. Next I put all the pushrods in and push down to make the lifters ride on the cam again, then spin it to make sure all the pushrods come up and stay up. They do, great!

I clean up and oil the new cam and then start pulling on the old and it won't pull past where it was riding when the retaining plate was still in. Meaning, the first cam journal won't break the plane of the engine. It gets wedged on something, WTF. It does have a 1/2 of movement towards the rear cover. In 5-6 cam swaps, this has never happened.

I reset the dowels again, nothing.
Spun the crank, nothing.
Tried spinning the cam while pulling, nothing.

Should I pull harder? I might have to use some type of puller to do it harder... I just don't want to pull a bearing with it. Could a bearing have some type of lip on it?

I installed this cam with no problems and has been in there for 10,000 miles. There has never been any metal particles in the oil.

Anyone else had something similar?

 

Had the same problem on an ss I did a swap on. One of the cam bearings was seized to a cam journal. If you want to have any hope of not hurting something you need to figure out a way to pull the cam out slowly. Like using a piece of flat stock across the front of the block and all thread in the cam and through the flat stock with a nut to pull it slow. If you don't yank a cam bearing out you might knick a cam bearing bad if you just try and yank it out.

 

If one is seized to the cam journal, then won't that one get yanked out no matter what?

 

No because it has to make it past the others that are still in place.. Sounds to me like it is just not being pulled perfectly strait out.. Some times they can be a bitch..

 

I've tried pulling it in various directions to no avail.

The choice is:
button everything back up and run for a while so I can find a new motor
or
Yank it harder and risk pulling a bearing and having it towed to a shop to fix it.

Ugh.

 

Have you tried to pump it out? Like we use to have to do with the old lifter in sbc.

 

 

My thoughts are, if the cam bearing is seized to the cam journal, you have REAL problems that need dealt with. I would not just leave it be, and run it. Nor would I feel lucky if I was able to gently sneak out the cam & complete the swap. If the cam bearing has spun in the block, the hole for oiling the journal is not going to line up. Bad things will happen.

Of course, this is totally assuming that you have a cam bearing seized to a cam journal. Maybe the OP just needs to join a gym, IDK....

 

Good news is, if you get the cam out, you can hanf over the core support with a flashlight and make sure the cam bearings are still there and that the oil hole is clocked right. FYI, the truck I did that had the bearign siezed to it, had NO problems with oil pressure at all. Thought that was kinda wierd.

 

Sounds lke your next to the last cam brg is siezed on cam... Will travel out just a little, then it gets stuck.... I have seen it happen before.
Pulled the the engine, removed rear cover, took out the last cam brg, and removed it out the back. Cam brg was siezed..