Jeep Strokers

Hi
I recently bought a pre assembled 4.5 stroker for my 2000 xj. When swapping the components over from the original engine to the stroker, I encountered a problem. When I tried to install the timing cover I could not get it to seat flush against the block. It appeared that the cam wasn't fully seated I could tell by looking at the chain that it wasn't quite lined up. I tapped the cam gear with a rubber mallet and was able to get the cam to seat close to the correct location.
After looking at the original motor and doing some research on here, I realized that I needed either a thrush plate or cam bolt/spring/pin setup. The stroker block is a casting number 53020569 and doesn't have the bosses drilled and tapped for the thrush plate. I happened to have a old 4.0 from a 95 so I pulled the cam bolt setup from it and went to install it on the stroker. The stroker cam bolt is coarse thread and a smaller diameter bolt than the cam bolt with the spring pin. Does this mean that I have a thrush plate cam in a non thrush plate block?

Thanks in advance
-Cody

Can you provide pics of the front of the cam?

Also, if you tapped the cam back and it fit you may have dislodged the rear cam plug. Or the rear cam plug was too far in or the wrong plug.