Cam gears for V6. Add power AND mpg

literally opened my box, set the treats aside for 2 seconds while looking at the gears and my dog snatched them up and ate them. Paper and all.

 

Got mine today!

 

Got my cam gears installed! Took me a super long time because I struggled with some wire harnesses and then trying to get those new gears on. I'm glad I bought the offset 17mm tool. Not sure if I could have broken the bolts loose without them. I used them to torque my cam bolts too. I used this calculator: https://belknaptools.com/extensions-calculator/ to figure out what to set my torque wrench to.

Initial drive, the power stays more consistent when I mash on the pedal from 60 to 90. I'm glad I was able to take out the my MAF spacer. It leaked air and low speed driving sucked. Now, things are much better. I have a AFE intake and plenum spacer, stock exhaust. Thanks so much for selling these!

 

Thanks for the review buddy! Keep us posted, would like to hear your thoughts after another week of driving or so

 

I got my cam gears from urd. Was thinking of doing them myself but not sure if I should or not. I don't want to fuck anything up and mess up the timing. From what I've been reading from you guys seems straight forward just take your time and have a full day to work on it.

Was thinking of taking it to a shop but I might end up doing it myself. I've done a head gasket befor a older Tacoma and everything else but since it's a new truck I just don't want to go I. There taking this apart and messing it up.

How easy is it? Should I replace all new valve cover gasket? Also it looks like the intake manifold needs to come out. Do I need to remove the spark plugs to crank the engine to line up the timing or can I just get away without taking them out? I have full skid plates and don't want to remove the bottom skid plate to get to the crank bolt.

 

I have a stock set of gears for sale.

 

My truck didn't seem like it relearned anything after the install, I could feel the difference right after the installation and it didn't change since.

 

The spark plugs don't need to come out. I took mine out since they were due to be changed. Turning the crank with them in and without took the same amount of effort. I tried both.

Other things to note: my painted links were not lined up with the divot in my cam gear. It didn't matter how many times I rotated the crank. I used nail polish to mark the link after lining the timing marks up.

I didn't remove my skid plate, but I gave it serious thought after turning the crank from above. I have a long handled craftsman 1/2" socket wrench that I used. Even then, it was challenging. If you have someone that can watch the timing marks while you're underneath and cranking, that would probably be the best.

If you want to save a couple hundred, I would suggest doing it yourself. Getting to the cam gears is the most time consuming part.

Watch the video in the first post to see how to get the gear off and on. That helped me a lot.

 

There is a mark on the crank pulley for top dead center, line that up and half the time the cam gears will be lined up, for what it's worth.

If you're supercharged, between removing the blower belt and ease of turning the crank it is worth pulling the fan and shroud.

 

Probably going to do it this weekend. Planning on taking the whole day. I still gotta go get my gaskets still. So when reinstalling the new one as long as the new cam gear teeth lines up with the same link that it came off of right?

 

Yes, but getting it pointing upwards at the timing mark makes it a lot easier to put it back together. Also, you'll need a 22mm socket for the crank pulley bolt. I tried doing it without getting the timing marks to line up and I wasted a lot of time with it. It takes maybe 10 minutes to get the timing marks lined up, so I would suggest doing that.

I forgot to mention that I didn't disconnect the battery. I didn't really see the need and if you do, it takes a few cranks to get it started up. I figured I'd rather know for sure if I missed something instead of assuming it wasn't starting because of the disconnected battery.

 

also, use a pencil to mark the cam gear. Sharpies don't show up all.

 

I was gonna use a paint pen. So I can get it from the top correct without having to remove the skid plate cranking the engine over?

 

As long as you have a long handled socket wrench.

 

Iirc, I found it easier to crank the crank from below because of less crap in the way.

 

Ditto, dropping the skid takes only a minute and then you have an unobstructed view of the timing marks at the crank pulley

 

No argument there. But he asked if it could be done from the top and it can. Having to remove 2 skid plates if you have the oem plus the trd aluminum plates can be a chore.

 

Yes, I totally forgot about being able to see those marks.

 

I cheat when I have to align mine. One person watching, and me bumping the engine with the fuel pump relay out. Super quick. Very little oil spills over and out.

Paint pen, or sharpie. Got to wipe the links down with break clean first.