RE: Cam followers - was routine retorque

["Steve Moresi" <smoresi@domain.elided>]

Well the followers aren't actually flat, they are slightly convex, allowing
them to spin a few degrees every time the cam hits them.  This keeps the
wear even over their surface.  Keeping the followers with their lobe is
important because they actually "wear together" over the break-in period of
the engine and form an even distribution of pressure over the contact area.
If you change this cam and follower will wear a bit more than if you keep
them together, as they need to form a new wear pattern together.  Also
material matching is important for keeping wear to a minimum.  It is often
suggested to buy cam and follower from the same manufacturer, as hopefully
they have put some thought into matching the hardness of the cam lobe and
follower surface.

Hope that helps.

Steve
SLO, CA
74 Spider
64 Spdier

%-----Original Message-----
%From: owner-alfa@domain.elided [mailto:owner-alfa@domain.elided]On Behalf Of
%Brian Shorey
%Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2002 8:00 PM
%To: alfa-digest@domain.elided
%Subject: Cam followers - was routine retorque
%
%
%>        Some mechanics form really off the wall opinions about
%> certain things.
%>  It may have to do with too much exposure to auto exhaust gasses or
%> something.  In any case, none of the Alfa manuals suggest draining the
%> radiator just to retorque the head one bolt at a time.  And I can see no
%> reason to drain the radiator for this operation.
%<snip>
%
%Speaking of which...
%
%In a recent discussion with another digester, the topic of reusing cam
%followers came up.  He mentioned that he had heard (from a
%mechanic) that it
%was important to keep followers together with the lobe they had been under.
%
%I've never heard this before.  It would seem to me that if a follower is
%flat, it shouldn't matter which lobe it sits under, and that if
%it's worn to
%any measurable amount, it should be replaced.
%
%If it were true that followers couldn't move to another lobe, then wouldn't
%it stand that if you were replacing a cam shaft then you would *have* to
%replace all of the followers (as the ones that were in there had spent time
%under the lobe of another camshaft)?
%
%I've replaced cams before and have not changed the followers.
%
%I'm curious as to what the general feeling is of the expert engine builders
%on the digest.
%
%bs
%
%--
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%

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