I just finished replacing the camshaft synchro on my 99 3.0
Thanks to all the info on here, it went fairly easy. I have one question and few tips for others who have to do this repair.

First,

I skipped the TDC step and I marked my new one to show where the vane was pointing in relation to the housing on the old one before pulling it out. Then once I pulled it out, I note where the vane was pointing after the tooth made it rotate. I set my new one at this same point then dropped it in, and ended up being one tooth off on the first try.

Pulled it back out, rotated the housing, dropped it back in, and it lined up so close, that it couldn't be a tooth off, it had to just be a clocking of the housing now that I didn't have set perfectly. I lined it up to match the old one before I touched it.

Locked it down, hooked up all the wiring harnesses and fired it up. It started right up, and seemed to stumble a little, then smoothed out. Like after messing with the MAF sensor.

It revs up fine, idles smoothly again, and best of all, no chirping!!!!!!

The 2 questions I have are:

1) How much mis-timing of the housing can the ECM account for? Or do I have to have it lined up EXACTLY as it came back out. I used just visual references to put it all back together instead of marking everything, besides the vane. So I could be maybe a degree or so out one way or the other.

2) The hex drive on the bottom of the synchro was extremely worn, and almost round. It was a matter of time before my oil pump was going to stop spinning. Is the shaft suspect to damage that I should be worried about? Or was the synchro the softer metal made to wear first?

Now tips I have for people trying this:

1) remove the hood, you will regret it if you don't

2) remove the ECM harness from the fire wall and move it on top of the engine, this way you can see the sensor and get a much straighter shot when removing and replacing the snchro.

3) Long extentions, short extensions and swivels will make this a much easier job. The bolts holding the sensor onto the synchro are 5.5mm. So have one of these handy.

Time to reinstall the hood and go for a test drive.

This truck has a modified MAF housing, intake mods, headers and full exhaust, as well as ECM reflashing done. So I will be able to tell any problems with fuel delivery real quick.

Hopefully the test drive goes well.

 

Ok, I think that the problem is that at the beginning you wrote that you had one question and then later you wrote that you have 2 questions.

I see where that might confuse people.

Then you actually ask 4 questions.

But just bumping.