5.0 rough idle/low vacuum

[RonD]

You could probably lower the engine(pull motor mounts) and get front clearance
You need about 23" of clearance in the front to pull out and put in 302 cam

Put a LONG bolt on the end of cam shaft for leverage as the cam goes deeper, but not a tight bolt because you do need to remove with a free spinning cam, lol
You can put in a lifter to hold cam while removing the long bolt

You do need to be careful of pushing out bearings, should not be an issue, only use your hands, NO hammers

 

[fastpakr]

The good news is that now I at least know what to do next. For the last week or so I've mostly been staring at the thing in confusion.

 

[fastpakr]

Cam is out and swapped for the correct one. Same pushrods worked, I just had to adjust the shim setup a little to get everything dialed in.

Slicing a section out of the core support definitely made life much easier. I'd recommend it for anyone that ever needs to pull a cam with an installed engine. Much, much easier than pulling the engine or lifting the body.

In other news, I discovered along the way what happens if you're tired and forget to put the cap on the balancer puller that blocks it against the front of the crank. It will very happily thread its way into the end of the crank and destroy all its threads. That debacle led initially to a helicoil (it backed out on me) and eventually to tapping the crank for a 3/4-16 bolt. Repair #2 for the crank seems to have worked just fine. Not a road I'd encourage anyone else to visit!

Other than a leaking oil line and initially crossing two of my plug wires, everything else went smoothly. The truck runs immensely better now and is at a shop for a state inspection and A/C charging today. Supposedly they'll be done with it this afternoon.

 

[Shran]

Man that is a bummer. I don't envy you on the crank repair either - I remember reading horror stories about people reusing 4.0 crank bolts (which are TTY) and it backing out and destroying things.

If it makes you feel better I pulled a distributor yesterday without marking where the rotor was pointing, after taking a couple pictures of the distributor with the cap on, thinking that would suffice... now I have to re-time the whole thing... long, hot days in the shop equal mistakes

 

[fastpakr]

Man that is a bummer. I don't envy you on the crank repair either - I remember reading horror stories about people reusing 4.0 crank bolts (which are TTY) and it backing out and destroying things.

If it makes you feel better I pulled a distributor yesterday without marking where the rotor was pointing, after taking a couple pictures of the distributor with the cap on, thinking that would suffice... now I have to re-time the whole thing... long, hot days in the shop equal mistakes

Honest truth?

When it happened, it didn't occur to me that one -could- helicoil and/or tap a crankshaft to a larger bolt size. I absolutely thought I'd destroyed it and was going to have to pull the motor. After four YEARS of this madness, I had about a ten minute flat out meltdown in the garage and just leaned against the truck crying and saying goodbye to the project because I just couldn't deal with this again. Wrenching on things is supposed to be a fun hobby for me, not a job/work. This one is far past that...

Then my girlfriend walked in the door of the shop with a smile on her face and dinner in a bag, and it was just enough to clear the air and let me start thinking about options. All is well.

 

[Ranger850]

 

[Angie]

Good deal glad you got it.

 

[Shran]

I had about a ten minute flat out meltdown in the garage and just leaned against the truck crying and saying goodbye to the project because I just couldn't deal with this again. Wrenching on things is supposed to be a fun hobby for me, not a job/work. This one is far past that...

Feel ya there, I had a couple similar moments this past year during my paint project when it wasn't cooperating. Makes sense that you could helicoil it, I just think of crankshaft steel as super hard material that is hard to drill let alone tap or whatever but it's probably not that at all.

 

[fastpakr]

I had to drill it twice because of the helicoil failing. Both times required renting a giant 90* drill. It went through pretty quickly, but the bit would catch hard periodically and it kicked like a mule every time that happened. Justin/85Ranger4x4 was smart enough to warn me to put on gloves. Glad I did.

Between the helicoil kit, renting the drill twice, plus the bit/tap/bolt to step up to 3/4-16, I think the whole mistake cost me about $150 and several hours of lost time. But it's running now and I'm moving forward joyfully.

 

[fastpakr]

The inspection station is hassling me about the brakes not grabbing well, but I'm confident that's because the rotors have surface corrosion from sitting for the last few years. I'll try to get them turned (or replaced) this weekend and throw new pads at it. Then it gets the 8.8 as soon as I can assemble it, so that's 10" drums to contribute a bit too.

A/C works well now. It was fun driving it back to work after the shop finished with it.

 

[Ranger850]

Nice side by side shot of the older vs newer Dodge Trucks there, too.

 

[fastpakr]

If I'd panned over to the right, you'd get a crew cab Frontier ('02) for comparison too.

 

[ryan]

Honest truth?

When it happened, it didn't occur to me that one -could- helicoil and/or tap a crankshaft to a larger bolt size. I absolutely thought I'd destroyed it and was going to have to pull the motor. After four YEARS of this madness, I had about a ten minute flat out meltdown in the garage and just leaned against the truck crying and saying goodbye to the project because I just couldn't deal with this again. Wrenching on things is supposed to be a fun hobby for me, not a job/work. This one is far past that...

Then my girlfriend walked in the door of the shop with a smile on her face and dinner in a bag, and it was just enough to clear the air and let me start thinking about options. All is well.

Is "screw this I'm selling this for scrap" not a moment in every project? Because I think every vehicle I've had I've thought about it.

 

[fastpakr]

I've had a few decision points with various projects where it just didn't seem worthwhile to continue. None where I felt like I'd thrown everything I had at them and was legitimately defeated by it on a personal level. For a brief moment, this one took me there.

 

[Craig0320]

I think I'm more excited that you got it going then when I first swapped mine and drove it. I am genuinely thrilled it's on the road and running. Is it as fun to drive as you'd thought it would be? Mine sure was.