axapowell

So the 60 hour mark seems like a common time frame. Spoke to another rep from Crane. They claim they only have 8-10 failures per year and sell thousands of cams. I hope the odds are with me!

Dave

Rebel_Heart

I was wondering is this something that is happening with just the Crane cams or do Comp cams have the same problem? I would think that if Comp is ok, wouldn't everyone switch? I don't know enough to know if one company is superior to the other. Just curious............Thanks.

dagah2x

I talked with 2 different crane reps. one never heard of any problems and the other said only 2 reports have ever been confirmed. 8 - 10 out of a thousand is too many. They will warranty the cam but they wont give me my sunny memorial day weekend back or my 25 hours labor to pull the motor out and apart. And theres no way they can get rid of the pictures my buddy took of me being towed behind his fountain... If you use a crane cam make sure its a copper one, I believe they call it the 8620 core? It is stronger and the new cam definately looks beefier then the old.

Hang Time 27

Those 8-10 failures a year are probably the 8-10 cams they sell in that series of cams. That grind had probably been serving boaters looking for torque, not 7,000 rpm drag racers, so the sales numbers were probably not that high. Hell, we know of that many failures just through this web site - any idea how many people out there don't log on?? Millions, so I say that failure rate is a crock. They have my broken cam, which I sent them, so I must be one of those "only two confirmed failures"?? Yea right, dream on.....

The black ones break, period. Swapping the cam out, or just checking the color now is worlds better than having your weekend/summer ruined. Mine broke in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay at midnight, with women on board - not good.

The problem is the area of the cam they grind down to press on the gear - it necks down too much, right next to the gear, creating a weak point - they have since changed the design in this area so that the narrowest point of the cam material is not directly next to the gear - gee, think they did that because of 2 confirmed failures???? The copper ones seem to hold up, and other cam grinders didn't grind them down at the gear the same way - I looked. There's no mystery here to me all..............

I originally ordered a new 731 after Crane told me they had cleared up the problem, and guess what I got?? A black one ground the same way at the gear - no thanks, I returned it too - and that's what finally convinced me they did not care about the problem.

I'm no expert, this is just what I learned through my failure experience - but I still will never buy another crane product, because they did not own up to this and recall all the black cams in this series. I even tossed my crane hyd roller lifters, ( broke a solid roller lifter with only 600 lift a 100 hours in previous motor) and went with Comp.................

Hang Time 27

I was able to get it out and had no reprocussions afterward. clean break, never saw any pieces. I took gear end out through the rear cam plug - back of motor, because motor had to be pulled anyway.

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

tt

axapowell

Strip,

You are bringing this to the top?

Side note: Twin HP 500's, and during my rebuild this past winter, I had received one of each, a "black" and "copper" colored cam direct from Crane. Although I questioned Crane prior to installation, they told me no problem.

I replaced my Black (induction hardened 8150) cam with a “copper colored” oil quench 8620 this summer after an oil pump pick up failure. FInally got the WHOLE story from Crane. They had run out of cores back in 2004 and purchased some from another manufacture to continue to sell their 731, 741 and other cams. They had only bought 100 or so cores. Those seem to be the ones which break. I have to stand up for Crane, because I returned the "black" cam, and even though it did not break, and they sent me a cash refund.

Don't get me wrong here, I was nervous that I could have a camshaft failure, so the cost of the new copper 8620 cam wasn't even an option. I was surprised that they sent me a refund. If anyone has had a failure with a cam produced after the BAD cores were used, I'd be interested to see it here!

BTW, the cams are ALL date coded. Anyone?

Thanks,
Dave

Strip Poker 388

iTrader: (6)

Yes I had one black core fail when outdrive broke at 101mph

zingdidgy,zing zing

CCLancer23

Was at iskys web site and saw a article on cam walk.Seems like the lifter bores are very slightly not square with cam-but x 16 it equals lots o pressure either foward or back.The roller lifters were skidding across the cam lobes making the cam want to unscrew out of the block!He found this on some blocks.They were engines being retrofitted with roller cams and worked fine with flat tappets in them