blandis

Have top and front end tore down to the point where the cams need to come off. Manifolds out and everything.

Started on the right side (passanger) to remove the cam gears so that we can pull the cams out and pull the heads off. The cam bolt will not break loose. I have the shop manual, and no where on here or in the manual do I see it mentioning reverse threads. I have not tried the left (drivers) side.

Am I missing something? We are holding the cam with a 13/16 open end wrench and socket and breaker bar on the cam bolt. I even wedged a chunk of 2/4 to the inner wheel well for the wrench to sit on while I tried to bust it loose. Is the special tool required to pull those gears. I am to the point where I am afraid we are going to break something.

I did a search and did not find anyone having the same issue. Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you in advance for your input.

bugs1961

They turn in the normal direction but tend to seize in place. I've taken many off and I use a three foot piece of steel pipe over a breaker bar to get enough leverage to break them free. They'll come but you need to use a bigger hammer!

bugs1961

Also, this tool is a big help for both the cam and crank pulley bolts:

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...l-tool-186081/

SacRunner

x2

I pulled the cam bolts of 2 separate 3.4's while doing my swap, and all 4 were a pain.

This is the "SST" my brother and I used to break the 2 bolts loose on the first engine:

That's 3 feet of 1/4" x 2" steel stock from Lowes/Home Depot, the breaker bar is a 12-15" 1/2" Craftsman that we put a 3 foot jack handle over the end. Then at one point, just before it broke loose, both my brother and I were "bouncing" on the ends, roughly 200 lbs, 3 feet from the bolt on both ends, I don't know the math, but that's well more than the 87 ft-lbs those bolts are supposed to be torqued. (I think those are 5/8" Grade 8 bolts that fit into the cam sprocket, but not before we had to grind the heads down a little to get them to fit).

We were putting so much torque on that bolt that we actually broke the 1/2" Craftsman extension we were initially using (before stepping up to the impact socket and extension):


Just keep at it and if need be, get a bigger breaker bar.

Kiroshu

Wow. I love that home made Cam Sprocket/Gear Holder.

Not Reverse thread just requires some "elbow grease" or an impact tool.

The SST for holding cam sprockets does help.

Those bolts are very high grade. As stated above you and your tools will probably break before the bolt does.

UKrunner

Wow I didnt have anywhere near that problem with either of my cam bolts. I managed to hold a wrench on the cam and use a 3ft breaker bar on the bolt and break it lose all on my own. Same with tightening to 81ft/lb - did it on my own. I reused the bolts and added some blue thread lock.

blandis

Hit it with the big impact (snap on) and did not budge. Only had a few minutes to mess with it.

Any issue with holding the cam with a wrench and trying the big ole' breaker bar? Or is cam gear tool a must?

Thanks again for your input.

UKrunner

No you can hold the camshaft with a wrench while using a breaker bar on the bolt.

blandis

Half a floor jack handle on the end of a big breaker bar broke them loose. Looks like it bent the pins (keyway) that go in the end of the cam.

They are off and I can finish tearing it down. Thanks again for the help! Will post more I am sure as I dig deeper and eventually start reassembly.