While replacing the 137,000 mile original timing set, I noticed the nylon coated teeth of the cam gear were completely gone and had settled in the oil pan. At that moment I began preparations to remove the oil pan and replace the oil pump. Thanks to the valuable information available on this site, I successfully completed the tasks and am once again enjoying the truck.

 

thats awesome. yeah it completely boggles my mind that one of the most tough and solid trucks ever built would have cheezy plastic teeth like that. mine were shattered too. and the timing chain had so much slack.

 

40 years ago they didn't know what they know now. Hindsight is 20/20.




John

 

It is common of Ford to use nylon teeth on the cam gears for most engines.

The reason they do this is twofold:

1) The nylon gears are quieter. (This is what Ford claims in their literature).

The real reason is...

2) The nylon gears don't hold up as well. They are designed and engineered to last only so long.

IMO: I'd say after 40 years and a supposed 137,000 miles, y'all have nothing to complain about.

The odometers of these trucks read to 99,999.9 miles, then return to ZERO. So it could be 137,000 miles, or it could be 237,000 miles, or?

btw: All the automakers are really in the parts biz. Over 70% of the profits come from sales of parts, not vehicles.

If parts didn't wear out, there wouldn't be any profits for automakers.

 

I think this sort of attitude is exactly what destroyed the American Car Companies....this with the additional notion of the "disposable car" that is designed to essentially wear out in 5 years....

These sorts of "waste-driven" economies are exactly what we need to overcome if we hope to succeed as an industrial nation in the future....

It's time to leave the junk to China and start building a genuine quality product again....

/rant off....lol

 

oh i agree totally. and that is one of the reasons for it that crossed my mind. but i thought that only applied to the newer vehicles that dont last more than 10 years and are specifically designed to be disposable. these old trucks are so heavy duty and have lasted for 40 years, and if everything else on them is heavy duty, the cam sprocket situation just really seems bizarre. and applesranges i'd say most old vehicles were built way better than the ones today. even chevys and dodges, hondas and nissans.... even furniture, shoes.........stuff in general was built to last longer back in the day.
is there an era you know of that everything was 100% solid? and nothing was designed to wear out? like the model t's or opals or something of the sort? my dad sez all rolls royce's are, and they are the cheapest car you can ever own because it lasts a lifetime, and if you add up the cost of regular vehicles over the course of a lifetime they exceed the cost of a rolls

 

This fat profits from sales of autoparts isn't something that just occured a few years ago.

It's been this way since autoparts first became interchangeable, circa 1912/1920.

Originally every part was hand fitted. There was no such thing as a part fitting more than one vehicle...whether it was a Ford or a Rolls.

In 1912, Dewars (better known for booze) offered a trophy and a $25,000 prize to be awarded to the first vehicle that had interchangeable parts.

Three Cadillac's were entered...the cars were dis-assembled, the parts were mixed up...the cars were re-assembled...everything fit.

Cadillac won the Dewar Trophy...and the prize money.

For decades, Cadillac's ad slogan was "Standard of the World." This came from winning the Dewar Trophy.
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What vehicle was not designed to be disposable? None.

For over 60 years, cars had new sheet metal and trim every single year (except just after WWII and thru 1948).

When the new model was introduced, the old one was now out of style.

This is the planned obsolescence originally begun by Alfred Sloane at GM. Every other automaker soon jumped on the bandwagon.

It wasn't till the 1960's that there was a carryover of sheetmetal...that was noticeable, that is.

Most all of the cars grilles were different every single year thru the early 1970's.

btw: Ford did not originate the assembly line. The 1900/1904 Curved Dash Olds was the first car to be assembled on the line. The cars...however were pushed by hand down the line.

Ford was the first automaker to have a mechanized assembly line.

Y'all know of course that not one vehicle was painted before 1924.

DuPont invented enamel paint in 1923 calling it Duco. The first car to use it was the 1924 Oldsmobile.

Prior to enamel paint...vehicles were VARNISHED!

 

Nylon cam gear was introduced for the Nascar 427.

Apparently, the main benefit of the nylon teeth is they absorb vibration, making the valvetrain a bit more stable - for a while. The side benefit being they were quieter.

The nylon toothed aluminum cam gears tend to be good for roughly 5 years or 60000 miles, after that it is running on borrowed time.

Josh

 

all my japanese cars/bikes have metal gears/timing chains I did have a vw(85) that was bullet proof except for the timing belt and fuel pump relay. that car had a tranny leak, lost 5th gear on a road trip. topped it off 150miles later and it lasted 4 more years until it was Tboned. Id probably still be driving it.

Glad you got your truck all sorted out!

 

They're all junk. That's why we're able to enjoy this fine forum.