Bumpin' Yota

im going to blow it up...i swear i am going to blow the ˟˟˟king thing up...

OK how the hell do I getthe damn shims out of the bucket?? I can hold the bucket down just fine, but the cursed shim will not let go... Ive tried EVERYTHING, short of pulling the cams... Right now im trying to get the SSTs through a dealer down south of me. The one north of me wont even try to get the SSTs..... Any ideas??

MTL_4runner

I wish I had an answer for you, but I am one of the proponents of doing it with the cams out.

I assume you have tried a magnet....they may be stuck with varnish (maybe some carb cleaner or top end cleaner).
Just do an oil flush when you get the engine back together.

Bumpin' Yota

hmmm where is my dynamite? lol

Jay

There is a special service tool we use that is shaped like an S or sorts. You must compress the valve spring by wedging a small screw driver under the cam lobe, with the lobe in the up position. ( I use a very tiny pry bar with a slightly curved tip, its about a 1/4 thick) You then sneak this S tool in near the cam bearing and it holds down on the edge of the bucket and wedges under the cam next to the lobe. The tool will hold the valve open and allow you the space needed to pop the shim out with a magnet or pick. There are usually 2 notches in the bucket to allow you to pry on the shim, so prior to wedging put it in a accessable position.

Bumpin' Yota

indeed.

That is and was my attack plan, I was able to use a flat head to hold the bucket down. I then used a magnet at first to try pull the shim. No cigar. I then used the tinyest allen key I had to try pry it up. No cigar. Should I get something with a sharp point to try this with?

Outside of that, the only thing that I can think of to use is the speciall SST that is plier like in nature...

Bumpin' Yota

I just went onto ebay and bought this:



hopefully it will solve hte problem...lol If not im going to cry. Then im going to laugh like an evil villian when I bring it in to have a stealership do the shim job...lol