Chewing up cams with vice grips vs. destroying phasers - assembly

Looking at the service manuals, they have you lock the phaser on the OD with a special tool in the teeth that bolts to the front cover bolts. Elegant! I was going to order this tool and pass on chewing up the cam with vice grips.

Issue is, I can see you are then using the vanes in the phaser and/or winding up the springs as you turn the bolt. You're holding the OD and the cam is only located radially by the phaser vanes. If you hold the cam, the phaser is just along for the ride.

Is anyone using the special tool? (OTC303-1046)

https://www.amazon.com/OTC-OTC303-1046-Phaser-Locking-Tool/dp/B007TN0ZLU

Don't the cams have flats on them? I swear I thought the factory ones did. Ford made a tool for the 2V's at least that was supposed to go across those flats and bolt to the head to hold the cam in place for timing chain service. I don't know if that same tool works on the 3V or not.

My CMS cams had a hex machined into the middle of them but I couldn't find a wrench thin enough to actually fit between the lobes.

2v's probably do, 3v nope. Costs money to machine flats.

I searched and searched and found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVlS9-C02Q0&feature=youtu.be

They are popping that bolt off and on using the cam chain to locate the phaser body. No vice grips. The phaser guts do not appear to rotate. When removing the phaser from the stock cam (with a prybar!) you can see the cam quickly "flip" as the drive is removed and the valve springs pushing on the lobe ramps take over. Upon reassembly you can bet you are turning that new cam in some manner once the caps are on so that the dowel/locating pins can ever line up with the phaser.

I think I'll remove the cams by loosening the caps 1/4 turn at a time using the reverse of the torque sequence or some other order I'll decide on while standing there pondering how not to bend anything or bind up the thrust surface on the front cap.

Well, I did use vise grips to turn mine when I was lining the phaser back up during reinstallation. Just put them on right behind the phaser. I mean, it left some teeth marks in the cam body but it doesn't hurt anything.

ghunt81 said:

Well, I did use vise grips to turn mine when I was lining the phaser back up during reinstallation. Just put them on right behind the phaser. I mean, it left some teeth marks in the cam body but it doesn't hurt anything.

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This, I've done this several times now without issues, I put a rag around the cam first though, then snap the vise grip closed. It still leaves some marks but it doesn't hurt anything.

Thanks for the info and the idea of using a rag, I'll make it happen. Are you installing the chains and then using the vice grip and the timing chains to keep everything from spinning while tightening the phaser bolt?

Ordinarily I wouldn't worry so much about this stuff but these assemblies are so unbelievably flaky.

Well, mine was during a cam install so I was turning the cam slightly to line up with the phaser so I could slide it on over the indexing pin (chain was still on the phasers). I had everything connected, put the car in gear and set the parking brake before I torqued the phaser bolts.

Yeah, I can lock up the crank the same way I did when I needed to pop the damper bolt loose. Engine is on a stand. Interesting thing is when you tighten the bolt you are also pulling on the slack side of the chain and on the tensioner. Luckily it's very strong pushing laterally in the center.

eighty6gt said:

Thanks for the info and the idea of using a rag, I'll make it happen. Are you installing the chains and then using the vice grip and the timing chains to keep everything from spinning while tightening the phaser bolt?

Ordinarily I wouldn't worry so much about this stuff but these assemblies are so unbelievably flaky.

Click to expand...

Yes. I've also ruined a phaser but not from using vice grips, just from tightening the bolt I had the pins shear off on one before.. so good luck with yours!

I made one of those 'special tools' with grooves that sit in the gear teeth, used it only during building of my engine. Made it out of 3/16" thick flat steel.
Otherwise with engine still in the car when doing cam swaps, I use the chain tension to hold the phasor in place while loosening or tightening the bolt, with the car in gear.