94 Ranger 2.3... what can I get out of it???

Taking a deep breath... I am just pissed at myself for not doing this while the engine was out.

Anyways, I have a good but used set of Ranger roller cam and followers on its way. Meantime I will battle the retaining clip screws and order the gasket and seal.

Ok cam is out. Forgot about lifting the engine until I had no room left to pull on the cam ugh. Removed the followers with a method seen on a few videos. Not sure how I am going to get them back in tho.

Now the tower bearings look a bit fishy to me. Nothing that you can really feel but 2 of them look odd and links to pics attached. Please let me know what you think about those? I assume they are cheap to replace and also fairly easy to do so??

https://www.dropbox.com/s/n61v664g3ag63c...G.JPG?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6f7wktzr02f6kn...g.JPG?dl=0

You might have the same picture posted twice. I agree, something doesn't look right.

Cam bearings aren't expensive and relatively cheap to have installed. I would recommend you have a shop do it as they will have the right equipment which is important as there is chance of breaking a tower if done wrong.

you are correct, sorry about that here is the other tower...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrvsmpuyi9ke0g...r.JPG?dl=0

all repairs unfortunately have to be done by me as I have no budget to pay out. This used ranger roller cam swap is throwing me way over budget already so I have to at least see if I can do this my self or just keep it as a "quickie" temp repair. Springs and lifters will be reused and and even maybe the bearings if I can't figure out the install with out further damage. If I can get another 20k out of this temp repair, i will be happy.

Here's a cheap way to do the cam bearings.

http://natomessageboard.com/ubbthreads.p...ber=246979

Genius! Thanks a million!!!

taking a punch lightly around the bearing for removal is not going to stress or bust the tower? Heating the tower before removal make it any easier??


Do you think its necessary to heat the tower and chill the bearing just before install? I saw a few guys doing that.

Any tricks for an easy follower install once the cam is back in?

Nah it's not going to hurt the tower. You might have to give it a fairly hefty tap to break the bearing's seat, but once you have it moving it doesn't take too much force when you're tapping it out. FYI - the first place I put the punch is the oil hole. It's tough to get a good start on the outer rim of the bearings since they're beveled, but the oil hole isn't so you have a better striking surface. You just have to make sure you're only hitting the bearing and not the oil hole in the head. Once you get the bearing moving, you can work around the "rim" with it to knock the bearing out fairly evenly.

I have zero problems getting the new bearings in without heating or cooling anything. Getting them in is the easiest part. You just have to make sure you're getting them started straight and they'll go in smooth.

You'll have an easier time installing the followers if you collapse the HLA's first. Take the HLA's out, put a towel around them, and put them in a vice to collapse them. You want to go slow with this. Compress a little, wait for it to drain, compress more, wait for it to drain, compress a little more, etc. You just don't want to put a lot of force on these in the vice because you can mar the end if you're not careful.

"collapse the HLA's first"...

OK, and just how are they loaded after collapsing them? I'd rather not pull the distributor and prime the pump. Will they load within a few revolutions of turning over the engine?

They'll be pretty noisy when you first start the car, but they'll pump back up. It can sometimes take a while for some to fully pump up, but it's not going to hurt anything. No need to prime the oil pump.