Help guys. I'm going to start my cam install tomorrow. I know how to remove the cam gear (puller) but how do I pressfit the gear to the new cam. Do I take it to a shop before install.

 

Just align it with the key on the camshaft and make sure the timing marks on the gears line up to each other. It should almost push right on or the bolt will pull it in place.

 

Glen, I just went through the same thing on my 1990. Getting the gear on is the easy part as long as you remember to put the spacer and thrust plate back on first. I am asuming your 72 cam has the spacer and thrust plate behind the gear. To replace the gear you get a grade 8 bolt from home depot to match the threads inside the cam nose, mine was 7/16 x 14 tpi. Yours may be diffrent but the grade 8 bolt is for safety so you don't break it off in the cam while you are using it to pull the gear on. Any way you put the spacer on first with the bevel towards the cam and then the thrust plate , if it is worn get a new one from ford for $8, then the key goes back in the cam, save the original key as they are no longer available from ford and they seem to be a hardened key. Start the gear on the cam and make sure it is going on straight , I made an aligner out of some scrap brass turned on a lathe so it fit inside the gear and had a hole through it of 7/16 to match the bolt. Start the gear by hand , it won't go far, find a heavy washer with the inside hole the size of your bolt and the outside larger than the hole in the gear.Thread the bolt in the cam nose and thighten away, a little oil is helpful, and you will pull the gear on the cam. Be careful of the following----- on my cam the nose of the cam stuck out of the gear about 1/32 of an inch when seated all the way, and there was very little clearence between the thrust plate and the cam gear. It should be .005 or something like that. Using the above method the cam will stop moving when the nose hits the washer. I noticed at this point that the trust plate
had a lot of clearence and I realised that the gear had to keep moving. I made a spacer about 1/4 inch thick to put between the
washer and the gear so the nose would pull through more, the inside diameter of the spacer was larger than the cam nose.
Removing the gear was no picnic. The 90 gear is not metal and there was no place the gear puller could grab as it kept slipping off the phenolic gear, the book says simply pull it off. Yea right try it with one that has been in place for 10 years. I ended up removing the cam and bandsawing the gear off so I could get a puller on the steel hub in the gear and it took one hell of a puller to move the hub as soon as it went BANG and broke loose it came off easily. Hope this helps.
Bob / stractor

 

Thanks Bob, great tech article! My tear down when about like yours. I got a big puller and it went 'pop'. Busted the cast gear. Ended up using an air cuttoff wheel and a chisel to get the spacer, thrust plate and woodruff key off. Now I need to buy a new set of gears. I do have one question, can I just buy a used cam gear (or new) and just use it with my old crank gear? Great idea on using the bolt to pull it on, I think I might even leave the gear in the oven for a half hour or so, it should go rignt on.

Glenn

 

Do yourself a favor and buy a new camshaft gear. In most cases, if there is no damage to the crankshaft gear it is not really necessary to change it because it is made of hardened steel.

 

Glen, BUY THE SET they are factory matched, DON'T I repeat DON'T go for only one gear against one used one.They come in sets for a reason as they are matched, why screw it up now. Especially if you are going to use a fibre set , actually only the cam gear is fibre, which is much quiter than a metal set.

Bob

 

Glen, I almost forgot. Don't heat a fibre gear, you are suposed to soak the gear in hot oil , but they go on OK not heated. You could heat the crank gear. Nut you should use a heat gun not a flame.

Bob

 

Thanks guys,
How about a part number and a good place to order a set. Should i buy the fiber set instead of the cast. The fiber set will work with a '76 model? It also press fits the same?
Thanks for all your guys help.

 

I agree with stractor completely about changing the gears as a set. That is the way to go. I have on several occasions changed only the camshaft gear without having any problems on older engines and the gears were in fact sold seperately and were not a matched set.

 

Yea, I called and they do sell them seperatly- They asked if it was a 58T or a 92T- I'm guessing the 92T is the cam, that being the bigger one. Damn these things are spendy. If I were to do it again, I would have taken it to a shop and had them press it off and saved the gear. The pullers just don't seem to work on these.

 

Glen, you are barking up the wrong tree. The 92 and 52 teeth are both cam gears. One has more teeth than the other and I asume the 92 tooth gear is quiter than the coarser 52 tooth gear. Go to rockauto.com and look up your truck and engine and search for the parts you need. They are reasonable in price and ship quickly. It seems that there are only metal gears avaliable for your engine, at least acording to rockauto.com. In that case you SHOULD replace them as a set.Why put the money into the engine and cheap out on the cam gears. Also I also assume that you are going to replace the gear cover gasket and the front seal that is in the cover. They come in the timing cover gasket set if you order the set. The set includes 1. the cover gasket 2. The front seal 3. the part of the oil pan gasket you see when you remove the cover.Note the kit comes with the front oil pan seal, read the instructions if you use it. If you use the new crankshaft seal ( and you should) you must make sure that the crank shaft is in the center of the seal, even if you don't you still have to make sure it is in the center or it will **** oil . How do I do that you say, well there are a few ways, get a seal tool that centers the cover ( too expencive) make one ( don't have a lathe) or use the centering tool you have in the form of the vibration damper.You will notice that the holes in the front cover are around 3/8 and the bolts are 5/16, room for a lot of cover movement. Install your gears use the same method to install the crank gear as you did to install the cam gear, use the bolt in the crank and some sort of spacer , possibly a socket, to pull the gear on. Then if you haven't done so loosten the first 6 or so oil pan bolts on both sides of the pan so the pan will drop some.
Put the cover on and start the bolts , now put the damper on to align the cover so the the seal will be concentric (centered) with the crank nose and tighten the bolts.Put the pan back up and replace the damper. It isn't as hard as it sounds. Back in the mid 60's we ran a "D" Altered drag car powered by a 335 cu in GMC six, roller cam,
12 to 1 comp , ported, ballanced , oversize valves and a Vertex mag and a Carter AFB 4bbl carb. The engine was a torque monster. It would rev to 6100 and once it started to pull it was good for 12.5 and 128mph in the quarter. Used only second and third and a 4.56 posi rear. The vehicle was a Crozley pickup weighed all of 1900 lbs. I still have the timing tickets and 8MM movies of the runs and all my friends of so long ago.

Bob

 

Cool, thanks for the tips.
I am definately going to change them as a set. Damn, I wish I would have know about the gasget set coming with the gears- I just bought and installed- the crank seal was a bugger to get out and the knew one started, but got it though. Great tip for making sure it is concentric to the shaft- Just by using the tolerance in the bolt holes. I will watch for it. I've talked to several auto&salvage places today about getting the cam gear off- Most everyone said they have never seen one come off successfully without breakage. Looks like you would need a hydraulic press whilst backing the gear near the center to get it off. No damn puller would have ever made that come off smoothly.
Thanks for all your help guys. Oh, one more thing, if I buy a stock set of gears are these retarted from the factory? I would like a set that is pre-set to 0° ?

 

Glen, don't worry the gasket set DOES'T come with the gears, you have to buy the gasket set seperatly. As for the timing unless it is a special gear set ( non stock ) you will have NO choice as to advance or retard of the gear timing. The non stock gears usually have 3 keyways. You have a truck engine as do I keep the rebuild reasonable you can't make a Keith Black Hemi out of a Ford six.

Bob :-staun

 

well, if this truck don't have some get-up and go after all these mods, that's exactly what's going in next- Keith Black-Hemi. Oh, and a couple grand in drivetrain mods to keep it all from exploding. Seriously, I just hope to get SOME performance out of this motor.