Hey guys, I'm trying to get the cam out of my motor for a swap and I can't seem to get the lifters to stay up. I've got the two 5/16" dowels in the holes above the cam and I've got pen magnets in each pushrod hole, but I spin the cam and I can still see the pen magnets bounce up just a little. When I try to pull the cam out, I can only get it about an inch out... really seems like the lifters are catching the cam.

What am I doing wrong? Why won't these lifters stay up? They're ls7 lifters in ls2 trays, about 5k miles old. Help!

 

A few more details, the cam to be removed is an ls6 cam that went in easily 5k miles ago (with no lifters in the block), the cam spins freely and the car had no issues before this. I will say, the dowels don't appear to be doing anything as I can see the pen magnets hopping even after spinning the cam and inserting the dowels, though the hardware store sold it as 5/16"... would a dowel too small cause this issue? Also, the harbor freight pen magnets suck something fierce as I can barely pull and they let go!

 

How hard were they to insert? Should need some force. Maybe they are a touch small.

 

Drivers side took a little force, passenger side slid in.

I just got some more pen magnets from oreilly, I'm thinking that maybe the weight of the pen magnets is pushing the lifters back down? I was spinning the cam with the magnets on the lifters... going to try it without once I get back

 

I meant to add that. I never used the magnets. Just the dowels. I think you'll be ok. Just spin the cam as needed. The lifters may drop a smidge, but the body shape won't allow them to drop past the dowels

 

Also, I put a caliper on the dowels, .315"

 

Got it! I'll attribute my issues before to the cheap harbor freight pen magnets and leaving them on the lifters while spinning.

I ended up spinning the cam without the magnets on the lifters and made progress, but I could still hear lifters falling. I then took a stronger pen magnet and worked the dowel in one lifter at a time, using the better magnet to lift as I passed each one. Spun the cam and heard nothing. I then pulled it out like buttah!

Thanks for your time, man, it's always encouraging when there's someone giving you reinforcement!

 

good deal! And we are always happy to do it. You had the hard part.

 

I'm having the opposite problem right now. I got some .313 5052-0 aluminum tubing from work, couldnt get that to fit in the holes. I brought home some .312 stainless tubing, couldnt get that to fit either. Do these dowels put pressure on the bottom of the lifter trays and "squeeze" the lifters inside them? That's kinda what it feels like. I got about maybe 10-12" in the passenger side before it absolutely wouldn't go any farther. I'm starting to think that maybe the 5/16 dowel that everyone uses must be like .310 or less because it seemed I was so close yet so far lol

 

No, if you look at a photo of a lifter (below) there are two sections that are full diameter and then a reduced diameter section. The dowel fits in this reduced diameter section. So if the lifters are up or down so the reduced diameter section is not aligned with the oil gallery, the rods won't go in. Hope that makes sense.

 

I gotcha. Thanks for the info. I'll get some 5/16 wooden dowel and try that today.

 

At least you weren't like that guy who decided to strap a come-along to the stick when it wasn't budging.

 

Wait....whut?

 

I need to find the picture. It was on Facebook, which seems to be where all of the retards choose to reside these days.

 

To those using pen magnets including the OP, tell me you were using something to hold those pen magnets up.

 

^^That's one way to do it.

I normally just bend the clips on the pen magnets out to hold them up.

 

this is the easiest, most foolproof method to prevent issues