Can't remove camshaft key

Drummer99 · Mar 28, 2019

Have been trying to remove the camshaft key on Commando 850 The nut was incredibly tight and took heat and pressure to get it off I have pretty well mutilated the key at this point trying to get it out. Any ideas on how to get the key out I should be able to split the cases with the camshaft key still in ? I thought of tig welding a piece onto the key to pull it out any tips would be helpful Thanks Drummer 99

Bernhard · Mar 28, 2019

Soft alloy or brass drift, tap Key gently until you get some movement, when you can get a small blade screwdriver underneath, ply the key out.

concours · Mar 28, 2019

Now that it’s mutilated... grind it flush with a die grinder (CAREFULLY!)
Then, use a small pin punch to drive down one end of it. Grab the exposed end when available.

Hortons Norton · Mar 28, 2019

Dynamite!

htown16 · Mar 28, 2019

Get a pair of cheap side-cutters. Grind the backside down so that it will fit flush against the cam. You should be able to grasp the key and pull it out. As others mentioned you may need to use a hammer and punch to rock the key back and forth to get some movement going.

marshg246 · Mar 28, 2019

htown16 said:
Get a pair of cheap side-cutters. Grind the backside down so that it will fit flush against the cam. You should be able to grasp the key and pull it out. As others mentioned you may need to use a hammer and punch to rock the key back and forth to get some movement going.

I had exactly the same problem and I did what htown16 said except that I put a thin piece of aluminum between the cam and side cutters so there was no chance of marring the cam.

nortonmews · Mar 28, 2019

Hi
I had similar problems and couldn't drift it out. In the end I took it to a local engineering firm and asked them to do it. When I picked it up the owner said what a PIA it had been even for them. I think they chain drilled it out (correct terminology?). I had previously removed them without problem on a Dominator but the one on the Combat was something else.

jbruney · Mar 28, 2019

I've used a product named Therm-Cool years ago to freeze small recalcitrant items in order to shrink them quickly for removal. Don't know where it could be had now because it was a Freon product which was appropriated from the company's electronics shop. It sometimes worked wonders when you moved quickly & couldn't apply heat or use deadly force.

acadian · Mar 28, 2019

The key may not have been fitted properly in the first place, I had to file fit a new camshaft key from andover on my build, if it was not properly sized the PO may have bludgeoned the thing in which would result in your predicament.

Good luck and be sure to have the intermediate shaft supported through all of this

concours · Mar 28, 2019

...or a host of other savagery

jbruney · Mar 28, 2019

That's one woodruff key there that shouldn't go near the slot. Best be tossed or seriously dressed.

ashman · Mar 28, 2019

Don't put heat on it or tig anything to it, freeze it down and use a soft drift to tap it out as others have surgested, it will come out even the butchered ones.

Ashley

acotrel · Mar 28, 2019

With the pin punch you use for locating a drilling position, you should be able to place the tip of the punch on the end of the key below the top face, and drive the end of the key upwards. Once the key has rotated in the slot, it should be easy to get out

concours · Mar 29, 2019

jbruney said:
That's one woodruff key there that shouldn't go near the slot. Best be tossed or seriously dressed.

It’s whatcame OUT of my oil pump assembly.

jbruney · Mar 29, 2019

I see the wear & extraction marks. Too bad Norton wasn't using gerotor oil pumps.
Had an old panhead scavenger section shear the key and blow hot oil over hell's half acre..Gear pumps don't tolerate trash very well. Flush remnants were PITA to remove from shaft also. Used small cape chisel to get it to dip into the slot enough to get under with a punch. Circa 1972

mdt-son · Mar 29, 2019

jbruney said:
I see the wear & extraction marks. Too bad Norton wasn't using gerotor oil pumps.

Never heard the name Gerotor oil pump before. I think the common name in Europe is "trochoidal" oil pump.

-Knut

jbruney · Mar 29, 2019

Term also applicable. Our regional dialects are keeping us apart...The English used to have me often scratch my head when I was a young'un.
Anyway very efficient pumps w/few moving parts until they grow larger.

o0norton0o · Mar 29, 2019

Get a disc grinder and slot the key length wise along it's center to relieve the pressure on the shaft. You can use a dremel and it will take many of these discs to slice that key in half. Be careful not to touch the shaft. If you grind a deep enough slot, then you can use a visegrip on the exposed shoulders of the key to compress it and break the bond (rust or some fastening fluid that was applied previously) and pull the key clear of the slot in the shaft.

Drummer99 · Mar 30, 2019

Folks thanks for all your comments I had a really good look at the camshaft Should have done that first The entire second lobe of the camshaft, second lobe in on the drive side is worn off except for a thin shred left. I have never seen anything like this ? So the camshaft is toast and I ground the key off to remove the camshaft. Anyone ever see a camshaft worn like this before? The Tappet is also worn on the bottom but not excessively
Any ideas Thx Drummer 99

Can't remove camshaft key

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