edz968s

Sorry if this been posted before.
Is there a homemade tool for compressing the Variocam to get the cams out, other than the factory 9530 tool, I believe an arm of a bulldog clip has been mentioned somewhere.
Ordered pair of cams, now wanting £1250!! each, though I got them from elsewhere after cancelling that order.
Thanks in advance.

951and944S

You can pull as a pair with chain and tensioner.

Should be pretty easy to fashion a tool if you can weld though.

For the future, if somebody searches this topic, I have pairs of 968 cams used, $500/pr.

edz968s

I want to fashion one of these to compress the Variocam when replacing the chain for ease of fitting.

Zirconocene

Sorry for the old thread revival, but was this ever figured out?

I put up a post on the 968 forum and got some advice but I am having a devil of a time trying to figure out how to compress the tensioner to remove it from the chain and cams. I can't figure out a good place to put a C clamp that will then let me slide the tensioner out from between the chains. If I could compress things by pushing on the chain, then locking things in, it would be pretty easy. I can buy the 9530 tool but I don't know what delivery times will be like right now and I'm on a little bit of a deadline.

Any help here would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tiger03447

From the drawing, the only thing I could think of would be to fashion two shorter pieces of rod, as shown. Thread one end of one rod with a left handed thread and the other with a right handed thread..screwing a connecting nut between the two would either shorten the rod or lengthen it. Kinda like a turnbuckle. A PITA, to be sure, but being adjustable and always holding tension by shortening the rod would perhaps be enough to enable one to have adequate compression or the parts. Maybe someone out there has a better way..HTH some.

Zirconocene

Thanks, @Tiger03447 , I managed to work it off last night and get the new pads on. The state of the pads was a complete and total mess. Getting things back on was not a big issue as there are no tracks in the pads and the chain can just slide over.

What worked was putting a C clamp onto the edge of the pads on the side that you are going to slide the tensioner out from between the chain. Then, while increasing pressure on the pads, you also have to keep the c clamp tight against the tensioner pads; it wants to slip off constantly. Once I was able to practice all that a little bit, I was able to get enough tension off the chain to get it out of the pad groove and things went OK from there. Not really hard overall, but not straightforward and there is very little detail online (at least, to the extent that I would have liked, as a first time cam and tensioner remover).

Cheers

Tiger03447

YAY! Glad that you made it come apart! Progress is being made!!