All Small Six I can only get my cam halfway out

This relates to all small sixes
J

jrock

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This is the last part and my block will be completely torn down but the cam gets about halfway out and it won't budge any further. I sprayed it with PB Blaster, brake parts cleaner, greased the bearings. Nothing is working. My dad was trying to help and get it out and he said he never came across this issue before. Once it gets to that spot it's stuck, it won't spin or anything. Push it back in rotate it some and it doesn't matter it gets stuck again. The lobes aren't hitting anything, it just seems to get too too tight. He suggested tapping the bearings out with brass. We don't know what else to do.
 
A slide hammer may work. The bolt threads are 7/16''- 14 thread. You did say they are not hitting the rods right, just checking.
 
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Ok, when all else fails, remove the core plug behind the cam tunnel at the rear of the block, and drive it out with a long bar, again its probably sludge holding it, you have taken the fuel pump out?
 
Make sure it is binding when the cam bearings are in the journals, I think before I beat on it to hard, I would think about cutting the cam to get it out. Don’t know it that would be possible or not🤔
You just don’t want to damage the block😬
 
Make sure it is binding when the cam bearings are in the journals, I think before I beat on it to hard, I would think about cutting the cam to get it out. Don’t know it that would be possible or not🤔
You just don’t want to damage the block😬
Just a thought too, I would try to take it out the back. If something has a burr on it, taking it out the back might help 🤞
 
To be clear I have used a homemade slide hammer on cams before. Not wanting to run around and being cheap I welded a old 7/16''-14 bolt to a about 30'' piece of all thread 3/8'' rod that I had and found a 3 lb. round piece of steel with a hole in it. put it on the rod with a washer and nut and tapped away. A thicker rod would be better but that is all I had handy.
 
aussie7mains said:
Ok, when all else fails, remove the core plug behind the cam tunnel at the rear of the block, and drive it out with a long bar, again its probably sludge holding it, you have taken the fuel pump out?
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Fuel pump is out. Everything is out except the cam and the cam bearings.
 
I'm going to take the plug out on the back end and see if I can get it out the other way like a couple of you mentioned. I'll give that a try tomorrow. Thank you.
 
Not 100% sure, but the cam bearings may step down in size moving to the back. I know a lot of cam bearing step down to the back to make cam install easier. I didn't measure mine, but they where definitely numbered.
 
frozenrabbit said:
Not 100% sure, but the cam bearings may step down in size moving to the back. I know a lot of cam bearing step down to the back to make cam install easier. I didn't measure mine, but they where definitely numbered.
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Thanks for mentioning that. Something to think about.
My cam isn't good anyway. Has pretty good scoring on a couple of the lobes. Now I'm thinking of getting out my dremel with a cutoff wheel on its side and taking some material off of the area that gets stuck. It should pass right through then.
 
Cam bearing journals are all the same size but the cam block bearing bores are different sizes for production machining and assembly.
 
Just checking, has the crankshaft/rods been removed already ? If not, the cam will hit it ?
 
drag-200stang said:
How is it going?
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I got it out. I had to take a little material off of the last journal. The cam was no good anyway so that worked out well. I thought I posted the end result but I was mistaken. Thanks for asking though. Now I have 2 pesky broken bolts to get out. I tried everything. And I guess my map gas torch isn't hot enough so now gotta take it somewhere with a big boy torch.
Oh and the freeze pluga aren't fun either. Put a coarse thread self tapper in a couple of them paired with a slide hammer. After about 10 hits it just tears the screw out and the freeze plugs didn't move at all.
 
Snap on makes a nice easy out. It comes with drill bits ( 5 or 6 different sizes) and corresponding splined shafts and collets that fit over the shafts that can be turned with a wrench. Procedure: drill the center of the broken bolt, drive the splined shaft into the hole, slide the collet over the shaft and back it all out with a wrench.
Oh! And don’t break the shaft by turning too hard. Heat, PBBlaster, back and forth, patience 🥹
 
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