Getting the cam nut off

[don hopkins]

Are there any tricks to getting the cam nut off? I have tried but I am just not strong enough. Is this something that takes 2 people?

[Mark McClure]

Don ot is on quite with a high torque. The way I did it was to put a long lever on the cam holding tool and brace it against the floor. With that in place and holding itself you can then put the crow foot on using again a very long lever, I used 5 foot steel pole on the breaker bar.

Steady pressure and it will pop off with a loud bang. Using the levery and bracing it against the floor you can do it easily on your own.

Hope this helps.

Mark......

[ChrisBennet]

Be careful not to break off one of those little chainbox studs. It helps to have 2 people (or an impact gun).
-Chris

[TimT]

impact gun

[bbh03]

It's like butter with the impact wrench.

[Mike Juzenas]

Yohoho......braaaaapppppt ! Yup, impact gun worked for me. But I bet some bozo's actually use them to put the nut back on too! ;-)

[aigel]

Isnt' he asking about the nut? Fill me in, how do you put the impact gun on a pre 80 engine with the NUT, not the bolt? The nut requires two tools. A cam holder and a crow's foot. You can't put an impact on the crows foot because it would be off center. And don't tell me you want to put the impact on the cam holder!

My advice is long breaker bars, stop one of them against your engine stand and lever the other one downward with your body weight. If that doesn't work, two guys or gals may be necessary to get it done.

George

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by aigel
Isnt' he asking about the nut? Fill me in, how do you put the impact gun on a pre 80 engine with the NUT, not the bolt? The nut requires two tools. A cam holder and a crow's foot. You can't put an impact on the crows foot because it would be off center. And don't tell me you want to put the impact on the cam holder!

My advice is long breaker bars, stop one of them against your engine stand and lever the other one downward with your body weight. If that doesn't work, two guys or gals may be necessary to get it done.

George

You use a large socket. The inertia of the cam itself does most of the cam holding for you. If you are careful, the chain won't be pulled on very hard and if you are rebuilding the motor you aren't reusing the chains anyway.
-Chris

[philippeF]

the impact gun has been my only solution....

[don hopkins]

Does it matter that the crows foot tool is off center?

[goose2]

I used a socket with a big slot cut in the side....impact gun on the socket and cam holding tool through the slot...best of both worlds.

[aigel]

Originally posted by ChrisBennet
You use a large socket. The inertia of the cam itself does most of the cam holding for you. If you are careful, the chain won't be pulled on very hard and if you are rebuilding the motor you aren't reusing the chains anyway.
-Chris

Ouch. Are you reusing the cams? This doesn't sound good to me. I guess it is a matter of preference. I am a big impact fan, but I'd keep it away from my unlocked valvetrain.

George

[aigel]

Originally posted by don hopkins
Does it matter that the crows foot tool is off center?

It may not make a difference regarding where the force applies, however, I'd be afraid of the foot jumping off - you'll mess up your nuts...

George

[88911coupe]

This is one of those threads where I wait for JW to reply.

[dtw]

Impact wrench, on either the nut or the bolt. A quality impact wrench applied properly acts on the fastener only and will not transmit significant force to the cam, chain, or valvetrain. No worries.

Now, whacking away for long whiles with a Harbor Freight special, that's a bit sketchy...but I've done it on POS parts motors and it's not a big deal. Think about the forces acting on those chains during full throttle accel/decel runs...