Jsulli

Yesterday I was finally bolting the cams back on when the most bizarre bolt break happened, I had less then 3 ft/lbs on it when one of the 6x30 bolts broke right off in the head,
luckily it was so little torque that it came out easily, it literally was able to be moved with a small screwdriver. I was following everything per WSM and have no clue how this could have happened.
Just thought I would let everyone know who might for any reason be taking the cam clamps off, replace your bolts!

AO

Sounds like a freak occurance. I've not heard of the cam carrier bolts breaking. I certainly didn't have any issues. Cam cover bolts... yes, I've heard of them breaking, but usually upon loosening and not tightening.

Jsulli

Yeah I assumed it it was a rare occurrence but just thought I would throw out a little FYI

Imo000

Well, if a bolt doesn't bottom out and the torque wrench is set to hight, it will snap the head off while the rest of the bolt stays pretty loose. Had this happen to me before but I wasn't using a torque wrench, just went by feel (before I learned how much force a bolt can take).

86'928S MeteorGrey

The bolt could have fractured when it was breaking loose... Were the bolts a bear to remove? Did you use penetrant oil? (PB, 3in1, etc) Did the bolt that broke have any corrosion present? I had intended to reuse my cam bearing bolts since they came out so easy. Now I'm having second thoughts. Anybody else have an opinion on bolt replacement in this application? I know rod bearing nuts always get replaced after removal. What about the head nuts or bolts?

Jsulli

Well Mike you're actually the one I had in mind when I posted, I would replace them with some high quality bolts and just call it cheap insurance. And no, I didnt notice anything out of the ordinary when removing them, but I assume you must be correct that something happened while removing them, as this is the only factor I can think of that would cause such a break.