doing the famous cam and lifter job after 166000kms

[abates362]

Hello all..... its happened.

Doing a cam and lifter job, ticking is getting louder. I got the parts on order and have been obsessed with watching YouTube and reading forums. Mostly trying to learn what not to do. So far confidence in performing this job in my garage is at 90%.

Replacing the following
-cam and bolt
-all 16 new lifters
-valve seals ( to maybe solve my oil consumption issue while heads off)
-installing wrapped headers and locking bolts while heads off
-hell cat oil pump and pick up tube (higher volume)
-seals and gaskets, head, intake, water pump etc
-head bolts

I just got a few questions that I can't seem to find answers for....

#1 when I remove the cam gear, do I need to adjust anything before I re install? or if I cradle it like a golden egg can I just reinstall on new cam and torque er down

#2 timing on main 6 o'clock and cam 12 o clock?

#3 do the lifters and oil pump need to be primed at all?

#4 can this be done without bleeding AC?

#5 taking the rad out, do I need to disconnect trans cooler lines and top up trans fluid?

Ill have more once I get into it, or if experienced guys doin this job wanna chime in, by all means, over. thanks.

 

[Wild one]

To change the pick-up tube,if your truck is a 4X4 you'll either have to pull the engine,or drop the front diff out.BTW the cars pick-up tube doesn't fit the trucks,so if you're referring to a Hellcats pick-up tube,you must be planning on using the one from the 6.2 supercharged TRX. Swap the bypass spring in the Hellcat pump to a stock bypass spring,otherwise you might have issues with the stock oil pressure sender giving you a low oil pressure code. It's a pretty common issue to get that code with the Hellcat pump
Do not use locking header bolts,they have a habit of rattling,and causing the knock sensors to pull timing,plus it's virtually impossible to get the tabs on all the bolts,just use the bolts that come with the headers.You're only torquing the bolts to roughly 20 lb-ft,and the bolts that come with most long tubes are perfectly fine. If you ever have to remove the headers,you'll want to choke the guy that sold you the locking bolts. Use Remflex 6022 gaskets. I've always soaked the lifters in a bucket of oil,but there's some that say don't,but there's also lots that say soak them,your call on that one. Soak your header wrap in water before installing it,even the titanium wrap is easier to work with when wet ,and you can use stainless steel hose clamps to help hold it in place,the stainless ties work,but i also use hose clamps along with the ties.Crappy Tire should have the hose clamps in stock. The lower dipstick tube bolt is virtually impossible to remove on a 4X4,i just use a dremel with a cut off disc to cut the head off the bolt,after backing it out as far as i can,once the heads cut off,you can remove the bolt,clean up the threads and turn it into a stud,after you hunt up a nut that fits it.Way easier to do the job if you have the A/C evacuted so you can remove the condensor,yes the job can be done with it still in place,but the time you'll save by having the condensor out of the way,offsets the cost of having it evacuted and stored,alot of shops have the capability of evacuting the 1234 freon now,so it shouldn't be hard to find a local shop to do it for you.
Read through Kurtis's thread on cam swapping a 4th gen if you haven't,alot of it will still apply to a 5th Gen truck. I'm guessing you're doing this on a 5th Gen as you've posted in the 5th Gen section.

How-To: 4th gen hemi cam installation

Since cams are becoming more available for the VVT hemi engine, regardless of whose cam you choose, here is the how-to of doing the cam swap for the 4th gen trucks. This is honestly a job that can be done by anyone with basic handtools and basic mechanical skills. I did my first cam swap...

www.ramforum.com

 

[abates362]

Thanks for the tip on the locking fasteners, I will be experiencing removing the fasteners with head on first hand right away, since I gotta put the stock manifold back on.

The part number I got for the pick up tube is the one that matches the 5.7L 1500. hope that doesn't affect anything with the pump, because I don't want to drop the pan again lol. the headers don't fit so I'm going back to manifolds.

I don't have heat shields currently so I guess I'll run without for now. I'm not working the truck hard anyway, just keep soft stuff zip tied away in the time being. the headers in the instructions say 1961S-1 2003-08 ram 5.7L and 1961S-2 09-18&19 old body style ram 5.7 hemi 1500 only. Not sure what that means but the flange for Y pipe doesn't line up both on angle and diameter, so buyer beware anyone locking to pump headers on their Hemi, hard lesson learned.

And sh*t, I thought I clicked the 4th Gen tab, my mistake. I got a 2016 ram 1500 Laramie 5.7

 

[abates362]

To change the pick-up tube,if your truck is a 4X4 you'll either have to pull the engine,or drop the front diff out.BTW the cars pick-up tube doesn't fit the trucks,so if you're referring to a Hellcats pick-up tube,you must be planning on using the one from the 6.2 supercharged TRX. Swap the bypass spring in the Hellcat pump to a stock bypass spring,otherwise you might have issues with the stock oil pressure sender giving you a low oil pressure code. It's a pretty common issue to get that code with the Hellcat pump
Do not use locking header bolts,they have a habit of rattling,and causing the knock sensors to pull timing,plus it's virtually impossible to get the tabs on all the bolts,just use the bolts that come with the headers.You're only torquing the bolts to roughly 20 lb-ft,and the bolts that come with most long tubes are perfectly fine. If you ever have to remove the headers,you'll want to choke the guy that sold you the locking bolts. Use Remflex 6022 gaskets. I've always soaked the lifters in a bucket of oil,but there's some that say don't,but there's also lots that say soak them,your call on that one. Soak your header wrap in water before installing it,even the titanium wrap is easier to work with when wet ,and you can use stainless steel hose clamps to help hold it in place,the stainless ties work,but i also use hose clamps along with the ties.Crappy Tire should have the hose clamps in stock. The lower dipstick tube bolt is virtually impossible to remove on a 4X4,i just use a dremel with a cut off disc to cut the head off the bolt,after backing it out as far as i can,once the heads cut off,you can remove the bolt,clean up the threads and turn it into a stud,after you hunt up a nut that fits it.Way easier to do the job if you have the A/C evacuted so you can remove the condensor,yes the job can be done with it still in place,but the time you'll save by having the condensor out of the way,offsets the cost of having it evacuted and stored,alot of shops have the capability of evacuting the 1234 freon now,so it shouldn't be hard to find a local shop to do it for you.
Read through Kurtis's thread on cam swapping a 4th gen if you haven't,alot of it will still apply to a 5th Gen truck. I'm guessing you're doing this on a 5th Gen as you've posted in the 5th Gen section.

How-To: 4th gen hemi cam installation

Since cams are becoming more available for the VVT hemi engine, regardless of whose cam you choose, here is the how-to of doing the cam swap for the 4th gen trucks. This is honestly a job that can be done by anyone with basic handtools and basic mechanical skills. I did my first cam swap...

www.ramforum.com

Can an oil pump pressure spring be swapped without removing the pump? I just put the oil pan back on and front diff, which took 2 hrs rolling in the gravel and ice lol
This whole project is one of those projects, but by god I’m gaining experience lol

 

[DILLIGAF]

Just bump your idle to 750rpm. Voila 45psi at idle

 

[Nickx86]

Just a food for thought, since you’re doing all this work to your truck. If you don’t like the MDS, now would be a good time to delete the whole system and use non MDS lifter and cams. Get a custom tune and permanently delete the system.