Towing Cams

[duh!!!]

Long story short, I'm rebuilding my 5.9 due to chronic head gasket failure (deck had issues.) Cracks were discovered on the edges of my cam lobes. Any real world experience with the Hamilton 178/208 cam? Hamilton recommends upgrading the valve springs and push rods. Realistically, is that needed when my maximum boost is 40 psi?

 

This truck pulls 17,000 lbs worth of recreational toys (5th wheel & rock crawlers) and I'm not out to win any races.

 

Looking at turbos down the road. My HX35 does good, but runs out of steam around 2600 RPM. 50 HP 7 x 0.008 injectors with an Edge Juice (changing to Quadzilla.)

[Bullet]

I have done alot of reading on the subject of cams before cuz I was also considering it previously.  The best answers I could come up with were to save the money and put it towards something else with a greater return on investment...ie turbos, injectors, electronics, etc.  The stock cam is very good. 

 

In your situation where you need a new cam price would be the determining factor for me on whether to try it.  But the price of new springs and pushrods would have to be considered in addition to the cam.  The reason why you would need new stronger springs with the bigger cam is that the stock springs may bind on a higher cam lobe and also to avoid any float off of the highest point of the lobe...also helpful if running high boost (60+) or high rpms (above 3500).  And since you went with stronger springs, now you need stronger pushrods to avoid bending them under the higher spring pressure. 

 

If you stayed with a stock cam and are only pushing 40 psi and are not revving past 3500 rpm then stock springs and pushrods are plenty fine.

 

I still have the stock cam, pushrods and springs, push 60 psi and rev out to 3500ish fairly often, and am somewhere in the 500+hp range and never had an issue.

 

If I were in your situation I would put in a solid used stock cam, your stock springs and pushrods and use that money to go buy me some 7x.010 injectors and a SXE 62 turbo.  The smile factor will be much higher going that route and it will tow like a beast compared to what you got now. 

 

Edited May 11, 2020 by Bullet