Cam Followers - Basket Case and Not Marked

SteveA · Nov 15, 2021

Madnorton said:
And sold a good few so far. Clearance should be 0.0015'' minimum.
If it was possible to make the two piece at reasonable cost with minimal product loss during process then I still would. Feel free to show a grinder a two piece tappet and ask how much to grind one all over. Most will refuse as it is two piece. You'll see that the current style makes sense and is actually very cheap.

Hey, I''m a believer....

Champy72 · Dec 17, 2021

ashman said:
If the motor is going to be fully rebuilt then new followers be my choice, they are expensive little buggers but, but if the old ones are good I be fitting and try to match the wear marks with the bores as best as I can, all depend how much money you want to spend, I have 4 sets of old and very good condition followers in my shed that I bought cheaply over the years from Ebay and swap meets and I have a jig for regrinding on a surface grinder which I made to do my Norton original followers.

Stripped engine for its yearly refresh before the 2022 racing season, and found that one of the followers had actually broken in two! The cam kept everything together so it wasn't immediately noticeable, and there seems to be no damage to cylinder or push rods.
Lord knows what happened - never seen anything like it!
Unfortunately, there seems to be no stock at RGM and Norvil, and I don't like the ANI pricing!!! May have to succumb if nothing else appears by the New Year however.
Don't suppose anyone has a pair they would be willing to sell?

grandpaul · Dec 17, 2021

The Stellite pads can come adrift of the hardened steel body, it's been reported a few times...

gforce · Dec 17, 2021

@Champy72 may be today is a good time for you to grab a lotto ticket!

Champy72 · Dec 17, 2021

grandpaul said:
The Stellite pads can come adrift of the hardened steel body, it's been reported a few times...

Not the stellite pads - the body is broken in 2 parts around the middle.
FYI the ANI cam follwers are £229+ for one pair, as against RGM £124+. That is a huge difference!

grandpaul · Dec 17, 2021

Champy72 said:
Not the stellite pads - the body is broken in 2 parts around the middle.
FYI the ANI cam follwers are £229+ for one pair, as against RGM £124+. That is a huge difference!

Price difference can sometimes be less important than actual ready-to-ship availability!

ntst8 · Dec 17, 2021

Andover have put time and money into developing a better product, presumably that reflects in their price.
Are you sure you aren't dealing with an issue that has arisen from a PO fitting a part bought on price rather than quality?

Champy72 · Dec 17, 2021

ntst8 said:
Andover have put time and money into developing a better product, presumably that reflects in their price.
Are you sure you aren't dealing with an issue that has arisen from a PO fitting a part bought on price rather than quality?

The cam followers have been in the engine since I bought it. It was a 920, then I got a new 850 barrel, finally sleeving the barrel down to a 750.
It really has been running fine, and this is the first engine issue that has cropped up since it was an 850...
I may well go to replacing both pairs with ANI, but would like to know the difference to standard that justifies the price increase...

SEd27 · Dec 17, 2021

Quick question…What is the standard tunnel bore size for the cam follower tunnels? I have some telescoping gauges and wanted to confirm if mine were in spec.

As well, has the hardness issues of the new Andover folders been resolved? There seems to be anecdotal accounts. A new set of x4 works out to be almost $800 Canadian and as mentioned previously, is quite spendy.

This said, a stelite pad separating could become an even costlier affair.

Madnorton · Dec 18, 2021

Champy72 said:
The cam followers have been in the engine since I bought it. It was a 920, then I got a new 850 barrel, finally sleeving the barrel down to a 750.
It really has been running fine, and this is the first engine issue that has cropped up since it was an 850...
I may well go to replacing both pairs with ANI, but would like to know the difference to standard that justifies the price increase...

Cobalt price and chrome and the associated grinding. These are not steel or iron.
Has anyone asked a grinder for a price to grind a single two piece tappet all over. When you have just that one cost alone, without all the other process costs, you'll might get an idea why one piece is the item now made.

Champy72 · Dec 20, 2021

Madnorton said:
Cobalt price and chrome and the associated grinding. These are not steel or iron.
Has anyone asked a grinder for a price to grind a single two piece tappet all over. When you have just that one cost alone, without all the other process costs, you'll might get an idea why one piece is the item now made.

Obviously if only one was manufactured by a precision company, you would probably need a second mortgage to buy it! These items were mass produced at some stage as they were fitted to several varieties of Norton engines.
Apparently there seems to be no stock anywhere (and I mean ANYWHERE!), NV are not even quoting a predicted delivery time, and RGM are no longer buying them from ANI as they disagree with the doubled price.... Looks like i's going to be an expensive Christmas this year!!!

Madnorton · Dec 20, 2021

I wasn't on about getting one ground. Pick a number and still ask a grinder what they would charge. First problem would be finding a grinder who will grind two different joined metals.
In the past they would have been cast In large numbers, similar to what I get cast but more often, however the same process then would need to be used now.
As yet I have not heard the thump of someone fainting at the cost of grinding them.
If two piece tappets were still being made you'd be looking at a retail of £1000.00 plus per engine set, instead of £460.00 for one piece alloy.

Cam Followers - Basket Case and Not Marked

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