Installing a Hamilton cam, springs and pushrods.....

Cummin-a-long

Cummin-a-long

Big Angry
Joined
Jul 24, 2008
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Had a customer in this weekend to do a cam swap on his '02 24V Cummins.

We also did his valve springs, push rods and re-worked some wiring on his TST module as it was getting intermittent connections.

For those considering it, here's what's involved in this process.....


Starting the tear down of the front of the truck.....

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Front end stripped off.....

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All accessory drive parts stripped off.....

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Front cover removed to expose the timing gears.....

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Here you can see how you hold the tappets in place so they don't fall once the cam is removed (that would make for a VERY bad day).....

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Cam and thrust plate removed.....

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Old cam (with the gear still on) and the new Hamilton 181/210 cam.....

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Pressing the cam gear off in the 20-ton press.....

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Reinstall the cam and thrust plate.....

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Fuel system removed to install the new valve springs.....

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New Hamilton pushrods installed.....

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Timing cover and housing prepped to ensure a good seal.....

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Now to put it all back together.....

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First, let's take care of those tranny lines.....

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Presto.....chango.....all back together and doing a 4 minute run at 1500 RPM's to break in the new cam. Then the valve's get re-lashed.
I did get quite a surprise here. Matt had washed the radiator and didn't use the air to blow out the water remaining in the fins. When the temperature came up an the fan kicked on, it sent water flying every where. I thought something exploded. I about dropped a chalupa in my pants.

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I've met the owner and his wife several times, very nice folks, so they were guests at the house for the weekend so they didn't have to pay for a hotel for 3 nights.

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Last edited:
Cam installs aren't to bad at all really once you've done one.

Oh, and dropping a lifter in the motor is a very bad thing. Especially when its on the back 2 cylinders. :doh:
 
BgBlDodge said:
Cam installs aren't to bad at all really once you've done one.

Oh, and dropping a lifter in the motor is a very bad thing. Especially when its on the back 2 cylinders. :doh:
Click to expand...

ANYTHING on the back 2 sucks! Me and #6 are sworn enemies.

And no, the cam isn't that bad.....just a bunch of tedious, time consuming stuff to get to it.
 
The dowel was just fine on the truck with 139K on it, so no need to mess with it.

Could it have benefited? Sure. Was it needed? No.
 
never understand why people just dont pull the oil pan off, take lose the engine mounts and get an engine lift to pick up the engine and you have room to pull the pan. makes the lifter install easy peasy
 
Lostnwalmart said:
never understand why people just dont pull the oil pan off, take lose the engine mounts and get an engine lift to pick up the engine and you have room to pull the pan. makes the lifter install easy peasy
Click to expand...

Because you don't need to pull the tappets on a cam swap.

On a new install, yes, but on a swap you just use the dowels to hold them in place. Even with a new install, you don't need to drop the pan. Fishing line, putty and a thin piece of flexible cutting board works perfect.

Adds a ton more work to lift the motor when there's no reason to do it.

Only reason to lift the motor and pull the pan is if you drop a tappet.
 
I called them about 2 hours after they left this morning and they were really pleased overall.

We pulled the Sportsman springs that were in it and installed the Hamilton's, we also fixed an intermittent connection problem on the TST, so it's gonna take a while to see the real gain.

We have him scheduled to dyno the weekend of Mar 12 - 15th. Last time we had that truck on the dyno it did 556 HP / 1058 TQ, but the valves were floating badly and the truck was breaking up at 2500 RPM's.

I only did 2 full pulls with it, I backed out on the 3rd pull because I was worried about hurting the truck.
 
Very Nice writeup. Thanks for putting all of the pictures up. Make sure to re-lash the valves before the dyno and you should be very happy.

Thanks again


Zach
 
Cummin-a-long said:
Because you don't need to pull the tappets on a cam swap.

On a new install, yes, but on a swap you just use the dowels to hold them in place. Even with a new install, you don't need to drop the pan. Fishing line, putty and a thin piece of flexible cutting board works perfect.

Adds a ton more work to lift the motor when there's no reason to do it.

Only reason to lift the motor and pull the pan is if you drop a tappet.
Click to expand...

well that makes perfet sense for some reason i was thinking tappet swap
 
Well, initial results are he is HIGHLY pleased, but his u-joints are not.

He wanted to see the "butt dyno" difference with the new cam and he snapped a u-joint.
 
whats a cam install usually cost?? to install springs pushrods and cam and tappets
 
Depends on the area you live in.

What might cost $300 in one area, might cost $1000 in another.
 
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