96 and up camshafts

[dwg86]

I was talking to a company that manufactures camshafts, and they are looking into making a wide lobe camshaft for the 96 and up 4.0 engines. He said its a couple of months out yet. They will be first produced for the oem companies (trw, clevite, etc). Then the cores will be available to the aftermarket companies (Comp, Reed, Crane, etc) for custom grinding. Why the oem first? I don't know. I think the narrow lobe cams were made for the AMC 6 cylinder engine. They do work in the Jeep 4.0, but there are some differences. He still thought the main reason for camshaft wear was low zinc and some cheap lifters that are out on the market, but they are addressing the lobe situation, which I am greatful for. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress as I find out, but like I said, it will be a few months.

[John]

Ho ray, good news and it's good to hear that they agree on my thoughts on both lifter quality and lubrication, I can't get people to consider the lifter as a possible source of our problems.
OEM companies first, they will buy the largest quantity. Narrow cam lobes, I have on hand several different OEM, AMC and Chrysler camshafts and only the after market ones have been narrow lobes. The narrow ones worked well for many years as made by many companies and used in many different motors, Then we saw the grinders surface qualities deteriorate, the lifters metallurgy degrade, and the additive package in our lubrication changed, And about the same time our motors failed.
We have learned to look for the better oils, hopefully the better lifters and now we should have a wider bearing wear surface on our after market camshafts.
We saw the end of production of the I6 for our Jeeps, in part, due to the costs of retooling to continue production of a motor for a singular platform. Production equipment does wear out and replacement equipment is costly. If one considers the deterioration in after market camshaft surface quality, the number of those companies that have recently changed hands to deeper pocket investors, the new coatings that are supposed to make our cams better. You just might think they are having their own problems. I don't mind paying for quality, just hate to have manufactures try to blow smoke up my a.. and tell me it is a southern breeze.
If we get a proper blank it will really help. Please ask them what material they will be using for their castings. Great news
John

[Reelm n Rubi]

Any updates on these cores?

[dwg86]

I just sent an email Thursday asking for an update. No reply yet. I'll try again next week.