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First... This is a Dodge and not a DeSoto, but they should be the same? My Dad has a 1950 Dodge with a Flathead 6 in it. He has removed the timing chain, and the two bolts for the thrust washer. But the camshaft will not come out. It seems as if it is being stopped because you can hear a slight clunk as you try to pull it out.
His original service manual is useless as it says to use procedures from previous years... (Stupid service manual)
It seems that the cam "should" slide out with the two bolts removed on the Thrust Washer.
What is the secret? OR what is holding it in?
Jim
Jim
Distributor's out, right?
What about the oil pump drive? I'm trying to remember on our '38 Plymouth restoration, but we mostly just let the machine shop do the tear down/rebuild, so I'm not extremely familiar.
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
The oil pump is out and so is the Distributor. After posting, I "looked" in an old 1960 MOTORS repair manual (has more info than the Dodge Service Manual), and that doesn't say anything in "particular or special" other than it says to turn or rotate the cam while removing it. They also said to block open the valves with small blocks of wood and lock the lifters up with clothes pins. Well... my Dad must have remember this from "the old days" as he already had this done but the cam still won't 'slide' out. I am just "guessing" that it may have a groove or something like that on the cam and that is stopping it?? It is almost like when you try to pull the cam out, you feel the END PLAY and that is all the cam will move. He even removed the rear "metal plug" and hit the end of the cam with a brass drift pin. same result. Cam refuses to move forward. One of those hmmm..... moments.
Jim
Jim
JIm, I think the cam is catching on the lifters, If you have not got them all the way up the cam could still catch on one or more, there is not anything else to hold the cam in. You might have to take the valves and lifters out to pull the cam. If it not catching on the lifters it should come right out.
Paul
Thanks Paul, I think that I will tell him to go ahead and pull the valves out and that way it would eliminate that as a culprit. On the flatheads, you have to remove the cam first before you can pull out the lifters. But, I think that even with the blocks of wood under the valves, it just isn't quite high enough to do the job.
I will post back later when he gets the cam out.
Jim
Jim
Jim,
If my memory serves me correctly, the fuel pump is also driven off a cam lobe. I received my first mopar flathead six as a Christmas present when I was 11 years old (1953) and had the same problem trying to remove the cam. See if the pump arm is in the way.
Best Mopar Regards,
Geoff
Thanks for that input... but I forgot to mention that the fuel pump is already out. Sorry 'bout that.
Jim
Jim
My guess is there is a bunch of crud built up on the some of the cam bearings or, an even more likely cause, one or more worn cam bearings causing a lip that keeps the came from getting past it. Try rotating the cam back and forth while also tapping on the end of it. Remember the cam bearings are softer than the cam but the cam is brittle so a judicial use of force with a brass drift my be needed. Another trick is to put the engine vertical with the front down. May be tough if the engine is still in the car!
Tim Mabry
The Lost Cause Garage
47 Suburban
57 Sportsman 4dr HT
Thanks Guys! My dad got the cam out yesterday afternoon. He had to remove all the valves and then, he also had to remove the "collets"(the flat washer looking parts where the valve keepers set in) too so he could get the lifters to move that tiny bit more. It came out fine once he did all that.
The engine is out and upside down too.
Tim, I was thinking the same thing that 'maybe' it had a slight lip or ridge on the cam too. But that wasn't it.
Case closed....
Jim