I'm trying to do as much block work as I can but have been away from engines for a lot of years. I'll still have machine work and cleaning done but since I'll be doing oiling mods, I plan to do cam bearings and freeze plugs myself. What cam bearing tool is everyone using? Is Lisle a good one to use or is there something else that's a better choice?
I think there all pretty decent as long as the have the centering cone and expandable collets ( usually there’s 4) Back in the 90’s IIRC I paid about 150.00
The Lisie one is what have and although it takes more time to set up it enables you to get things loaded in square on the first shot, and if things do go a muck you can get the bearing out without harm. You might not have to buy one since a lot of tool rental places have this type it seams. If you have never done cam bearing before note that there a chamfered starting edge on at least one side.
Jeremey, your dad's issue was the coated bearings.. not the install tool, he contacted me about it last week. I have two of those kits, actually wore the rubbers out on my original bluepoint version.. which had Steel shafts for the driver.. my later one is the Lisle 18000, which is identical to my orginal Blue Point set, but with aluminum shafts for the drivers. These cam bearing driver sets are not expensive, and they are on the "short list" of the tools you need to own if your involved in more than just a motor every 10 years... they pay for themselves very quickly. JW