Greetings All
Just finished a camshaft replacement in a Kawasaki FD620D V-twin on a Cub Cadet 2086 tractor. On this one, the swages broke off the 3 rivets, the rivets backed out and the gear slipped on the shaft. 2 out of the 3 rivets had been pulled into the oil pick-up tube and were sitting against the strainer screen, no damage to pump or engine internals. Was able to replace the camshaft without having to remove engine from tractor, just dismantle front end of tractor and rock engine back a few degrees, just enough to get crankcase cover off. Interestingly enough, the composite gear is completely un-damaged, just separated from the shaft, but I replaced it with the one piece cast steel shaft which will not fall to pieces.
On these camshafts, I've seen the holes in the cam gear elongate and turn into slots and I've seen a section of teeth break off the gear, but this is the first one that I've seen where the rivets simply fell out. 400 hours seems to be the life expectancy of these composite gear camshafts in my experience. Any thoughts or comments to add to this? All the best,
Sky