Cam Removal Gone Bad

[ullose2]

Last night I tried to remove the old cam from my motor (350 sbc), and after about 2 lobes it stopped. I could push it right back in, but it wouldnt move past those 2 or 3 lobes. Im sure i had everything removed including the feul pump rod. I messed with it for about an hour trying to gently get it out. Eventually i got mad and tried to man handle it out, but it never happened. I took it to the machine shop this morning to get new cam bearings and to make sure everything was clean, and he had to get a large hammer and "tap" it out. Needless to say it detroyed the bearings. I was just wondering if there were any thoughts as to why this may have happened or what i may have done wrong for future reference. thanks

Heath

[WS6]

Roller cam or flat tappet? You could have had a mushroomed lobe that can easily prevent the cam from coming out. Don't sweat it too much, it happens. You never know what an engine has been through. Luckily you didn't have the engine in a car when trying to get the cam out.

As for getting it out? You just have to play with it easily. Sometimes you have to move it over to the left or right. Sometimes(usually) you need to raise the back of the cam that's still in the engine up. That's what the nice cam install tool is for. You can also use a big screw driver to slide inside the cam and lift with that. It's a tight fit all around. If you don't slide straight in and out, you can eaisly be off enough to get stuck.

[LowBuckX]

A cam Handle helps out alot. Im thinking you cocked a bearing. This happened to me also and I beleive I did it by catching a lobe on the bearing. The edge of the bearing had a ding on it where it looked like it got banged on.
I also had to get new bearings pounded in. Live and learn.

This is a cam handle. But I made one out of pipe and a bolt.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2006/09/sum900134_w-1.jpg

[ullose2]

Luckily you didn't have the engine in a car when trying to get the cam out.

Yeah, I wish. When we realized the cam wasnt coming out without any special persuasion we went ahead and pulled the motor out. On top of all this I was standing by as my friend tried to pull it out holding the brand new cam. When he couldnt do it I passed it to steven until we were all three goin at the thing. The lobes as well as the rest of the cam looked perfect. Oh well. I just cant wait to get back on the road. The machine shop is going to check everything else out in the bottom end while they have it so it will be nice to have that piece of mind. That cam handle looks easy enough to make. I wish i would have thought about something like that before. Live and learn....:banghead:

Heath