Cam stuck

[agbuckle98]

so I'm doing the cam replacement on my DII over the holiday weekend, everything is torn down, the cam is ready to come out, or at least I though so. It only moves back and forth about 3/8" and refuses to come out of the block. Yes, the thrust plate is off. If I try to twist it out of the block it just gets stuck and I have to give it light tap with the plastic mallet to free it up. I've never had this happen, cams always just come right out with no issue. What's the deal?

 

[D Chapman]

Take the lifters out.

 

[FB111]

You probably need to lift the far end of the cam slightly to extract it. I always screwed a longer bolt into the front end of the cam to get better leverage while extracting the first couple of lobes.

 

[agbuckle98]

it's not an issue of alignment, it literally gets stuck to the point where it wont turn or anything untill I tap it back into the bore, then it spins very easily by hand. I have a feeling it has to do with a buildup of crap on the first cam bearing where the groove rides.

 

[ptschram]

it's not an issue of alignment, it literally gets stuck to the point where it wont turn or anything untill I tap it back into the bore, then it spins very easily by hand. I have a feeling it has to do with a buildup of crap on the first cam bearing where the groove rides.

Bingo!

Brake parts cleaner is your friend.

 

[agbuckle98]

after fiddling around with it for quite some time, tried the brake cleaner to loosen up the crap, I ended up with a home-made "puller" of sorts. A hub socket, length of 10x1.50 threaded rod, nut and washer and it didn't take much at all to get it to come right out. The job is done, car runs great, I hope to never do that job again on a DII, I'd much rather do head gaskets.