cam gears wont come off

tfoti · #1 10-17-2004, 08:19 PM

i need to get the cam gears off my head to put them on another one, but i just cant break them loose!! anybody experience this before? i have been using a vice grip to hold the cam in place and using a breaker bar to loosen the bolt. i don't have the right wrench to put on the cam. i know its at least a 21mm for the cam. anybody else experiece this and what they did to get it off? im thinking an impact wrench. and don't worry about the rest of the head, all that i need is the gears...

kjewer1 · #2 10-17-2004, 10:37 PM

Youneed a wrench for the cam (~22 for HKS cams, and something like 24-26 for stock, IIRC), and two people. It is a bastard belive me. An impact gun will do nicely of course, but I assume if you had one you would have already done it. They get torqued to 70 ft-lbs and should have locktight on them.

tfoti · #3 10-18-2004, 11:25 PM

ok, the impact gun i have did not do the trick...maybe tis the comptressor, maybe its the gun...BTW, putting 90 gears on a 94 head will be fine, am i correct? they are the same specs?

kjewer1 · #4 10-19-2004, 02:50 AM

Yes, the gears are the same. Your best bet is to get the proper wrnech on the cam, the longer the better. Have some one hold that, and use a breaker bar with a pipe on the bolt. Just going to have to man handle it.

tfoti · #5 10-19-2004, 02:55 AM

i did get the wrench today and its a 27mm!! now i just have to find someone else...i wish i had done i while the head was still bolted to the block. i had no idea these gears were that hard.

thanks for the replies!

kjewer1 · #6 10-19-2004, 03:35 AM

The heads off the block! Man, thats going to be a pain. Be careful to not bend the valves, hopefully theyre already bad or you dont care about them

tfoti · #7 10-19-2004, 12:27 PM

yeah, its actually the head thats in my sig, i dont care about them!!

tfoti · #8 10-20-2004, 02:22 AM

now im pissed, breaker bars, pipes, impact gun, 2 people...still wont budge. maybe i'll bolt it back on the block with the old gasket and try it that way, any reason not to do this?

kjewer1 · #9 10-20-2004, 01:35 PM

Shouldnt be. Set the pistons all to halfway up, put a handful of bolts on it, and then you might be able to get some more leverage. What a pain in the ass

1stGenRocks · #10 10-20-2004, 08:26 PM

screw the vise grips on the cam. stck a screwdriver or something in the middle and let the two gears jam together on either side of it. put a rag or two around it to keep from nicking the gears

tfoti · #11 10-20-2004, 10:31 PM

that cam across my mind, but by looking at my new head the gears broke off and a few spokes were still on it. im thinking he tried something similar. i also had vice grips on the cam itslef and it rounded the hex off. by the way the cam takes a 27mm open end wrench... but i have good news...i borrowed a better air gun and took it to a friends house. he has a 80 gallon air tank set up at 180 psi. it took those bolts right out!! then we went to take off the new bolts on the new head, they would not come out, make a long story short he took his portable grinder and ground the head off the bolts and they turned right out. its hard to explain, but it worked perfectly. and he took my broken manifold studs out in about 10 minutes...my head is ready to go!!

kjewer1 · #12 10-21-2004, 03:17 AM

Pays to have the right tools, thats for sure. I dont know what the hell I did before I had all my air tools, welder, etc.

tfoti · #13 10-21-2004, 12:41 PM

pays to have the right friends too!! thanks guys

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