The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Proper cam gear removal procedure?

My '55 235 is completely rebuilt with the exception of the new cam, which should arrive sometime this week. I feel pretty comfortable with getting my existing aluminum gear ONTO the new cam (freeze the cam overnight and heat the gear). What I'm having trouble with is getting my good, aluminum gear OFF of the old cam without hurting it. I've got a hydraulic shop press and a small propane torch. I tweaked my two press support plates so they fit fairly snugly around the front cam bearing surface and support the thrust plate for 360 degrees except for two small gaps. I then got an old socket just smaller than the OD of the cam snout and used this for the press to act on (cam gear up, cam hanging in press). The 1st time, I applied heat to the hub of the cam gear and then tried to press it out. After the press saw resistance, I gave three full pulls on the 20 ton bottle jack. It creaked. I stopped. Nothing moved. I DO understand that the heat I applied also transferred to the cam snout but I was hoping the different expansion and contraction rates of aluminum and iron would give me a window of time that the gear would loosen slightly. No such luck. I then let it fully cool down and tried it again with the same results. Any advice from guys who've got a procedure down for this would be appreciated (No SWAGs please - I don't want to sweep up my gear in a dustpan!) Thanks, Dale

They are on there tight, you still need to press the gear with freezing, the cam and heating the gear, (at least mine did) You will gall the inside of the gear taking it off most likely. I have just gotten a new gear whenever I install a cam, they are cheap. (that's what I do)

250's are the same way and i haven't got one off yet with out damage to it. The inside will be messed up like brokenhead said, so even if you get it off, it won't have the holding strength of a new gear. I haven't have any problems with just swapping 1/2 the timing set.

Joe

Once it's on there, getting it off without destroying the gear is just about impossible. How have you determined the gear is "good"- - -no teeth missing, etc.? If you do manage to get it off in one piece, and install it on another cam eventually, you'll find it's going to be noisy unless it's also running against the same crankshaft gear it originally "wore in" with. Cut the gear off- - - -they're not that scarce or expensive. You also run a serious risk of breaking the thrust plate by trying to press the old gear off, and those things are hard to find and pricey!
Jerry