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MG TD TF 1500 - Camshaft Circlip Removal

Not sure how to go about this without damaging the rear journal or the lobe adjacent. Obviously standard circlip pliers are useless as the circlip has no eyes. Then there is the problem of fitting it to the new cam, again without damaging the lobe or journal. I don't want to risk attacking it with screwdrivers, wedges & the like. Checked the tool section @ the big local hardware chain store. No joy. My circlip pliers are designed for clips with eyes. Even thought about grinding a pair of internal grooves into mine but they are too wide to fit into the gap in the circlip. Checked the archive & the net with no success. Anybody have a safe & foolproof method? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter - What you have are TruArc pliers and as you have discovered, they don't work on circlip. Circlips are a b--ch to get off as you have discovered. You could make up a tool out of 1/8 - 1/4 aluminum with a cut out at one end that will just catch both ends of the circlip. Pushing the tool down on the ends of the circlip, you should be able to push the circlip down far enough to get a small screwdriver under the center of the circlip and from there pry it off (at which point, in my experience, it will fly off the camshaft and after ricocheting off a couple of walls, will never be seen again (in which case you can replace it with an E ring or a TruArc). Cheers - Dave
D W DuBois

Not sure I follow Dave. Is this a piece of flat bar with a groove in the face to trap the circlip which I then push down on? Once I get under the circlip opposite the open ends with a screwdriver I could cover that area with a rag prior to prising it off to prevent the circlip launching itself. It seems this method requires the circlip to open a long way. If it isn't essential to use the original circlip, perhaps I could just buy a Truarc circlip & use my pliers to fit that to the new cam & leave the old circlip where it is? Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

Peter,

The only purpose of the circlip you are fighting with is to aid the installation of the camshaft. It ensures that you don't inadvertently push the cam too far to the rear and knock out the closing plug at the back of the block. Once the timing chain and sprocket are installed, that controls forward and backward movement of the cam. The circlip will be just shy of the rear bearing face. Leave the old circlip on the cam, just go to your local hardware store and buy and eared type ring that fits the groove.

Gregory S
Columbia Restorations
(708) 715-5517
GMS Serduke

OK Greg. Sounds like a plan.
P Hehir

After examining the 8 different pairs of circlip pliers at the local mechanic's garage & not finding one that would do the job, I decided to leave the original circlip on the old cam & bought an imperial set of circlips (with eyes) to install one on the Chet Herbert cam from Andrews Products. The unexpected problem was the thickness of the circlips. The diameter was fine but both imperial & metric circlips are slightly too thick to fit deep into the groove in the cam, which is definitely narrower than the original. The circlip seems to be firmly attached to the cam but doesn't rotate like the original. As its function is just to prevent pushing the cam too far to the rear during installation, hopefully it should be OK?... Cheers
Peter TD 5801
P Hehir

This thread was discussed between 22/06/2014 and 27/06/2014

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