1999 Mounty 5.0 aka My Great Bad Idea

[97Sandbox]

Okay, sounds good. It doesn't necessarily sound easier than using compressed air, but might be more trustworthy for making sure crusty high-mileage valves don't fall in.

I've gone this far and I have the full gasket kit, so I think it'll be worth taking an extra night or two to get the seals changed.

 

[roryboryalice]

It doesn’t care if then front drive isn’t hooked up. I drove well over 10,000 miles without a front shaft and it was fine.

Correct it does not care but it will not lock up in park or gear as it will roll if parked on a hill I found out the hard way what really matters is the tire circumference has to be equal.if out by 2 /32 it will Lincoln lock. lol.I had 2 tires of one brand and 2 of another all 4 we're new 29" according to manufacturer's specifications but 2 were 28" and other 2 were 30" sadly it burnt out my AWD transfercase grr I had to find out the hard way again

 

[Mbrooks420]

Correct it does not care but it will not lock up in park or gear as it will roll if parked on a hill I found out the hard way what really matters is the tire circumference has to be equal.if out by 2 /32 it will Lincoln lock. lol.I had 2 tires of one brand and 2 of another all 4 we're new 29" according to manufacturer's specifications but 2 were 28" and other 2 were 30" sadly it burnt out my AWD transfercase grr I had to find out the hard way again

Yes, it will roll.

2/32” isn’t going to “Lincoln lock” anything. My rears are half tread and my fronts are almost bald. Same thing with the set of tires before these, and about 8 sets of tires on my last Mounty.

 

[410Fortune]

28” and 30” would Likely create some un wanted wear and heat until the clutch wears out prematurely

 

[CDW6212R]

2" difference is too much, that'd kill an AWD super fast. But 2/32" is nothing, that's 1/16", so little you'd have a hard time measuring it. I often rotate my tires when there's at least 1/16" more wear on the fronts. I'd like to do it more often, but I don't worry about that minor amount either.

My AWD finally locked up after almost three years after prior owner had mismatched tires. I got it with black fluid inside, which is the AWD viscous clutch leaking its internal fluid. I replaced the fluid 3-4 times during the 3+ years I drove it, it finally did lock up fully; it took out the front diff.

I need to source a # 149 AWD TC used in big GM SUV's, Escalade etc. That's supposed to be a little stronger, larger too I assume. All I've discovered so far is that it was popular and common, and there are upgrades done to the front and rear case halves. So they weren't perfect in stock form, deficiencies/usual of course, but fixable at a cost. Like everything else I hunt, I need one that's unhurt and has decent mileage, to rebuild.

 

[97Sandbox]

Do I need to bend the silver legs of this spring compressor out so they're not on top of the inner circle?

This is all new to me and I'm struggling haha

 

[CDW6212R]

That should work just like that, the inner most part is the keepers, the two halves you can see the seams. Outside of those is the valve spring retainer, which in that case includes a rotator device. Ford put those on most exhaust valves of their engines. Nobody uses them in their rebuilt engines or high performance. Some remanufactured engines may have them, they're not an important item.

Pull all of the pushrods and inspect the ends carefully. They should all look just like the one you have pictured, not cracked or bent etc.

 

[97Sandbox]

Hmmm okay. The inner rotator should drop with the retainer right? Seems like it's staying against the keepers when the spring and retainer comes loose and that's not letting me pull the keepers.

 

[CDW6212R]

The spring compressor you run down a 1/2" or more to make space for the valve keepers to be removed. I haven't had a rotator/retainer in hand since about 2001 when I rebuilt my first 302 HO engine. I was discarding those parts, so I only glanced at them to note what they looked like, that odd device nobody keeps.

So the compressor should be against the top of the retainer enough to engage everything but the keepers. It's held together by the spring force pushing the retainer against the keepers. Just be sure the valve doesn't fall if air is all that holds it up, other than that you can do whatever it takes to get the keepers out. Then you release the compressor, which let's it all come apart and leave the valve behind. Change the valve seal and/or springs etc, and put it back together. Be sure the seals hold tight, they should take some effort to put onto the guides in the head, so they don't easily fall off later.

 

[97Sandbox]

Sounds good. Maybe I just need to crank the compressor down harder. I'm using the rope-in-the-cylinder method instead of air because the adapter I got isn't long enough on the threaded end (first bad tool I've gotten from harbor freight in a while).

 

[CDW6212R]

That's good, with the cylinder filled to hold the valve up, you don't have to worry as much that it will fall too far. Work with the compressor, you can push the valve down a good 5/8" before the spring gets fully crushed. Take it easy, once you get the hand of doing the first one, the rest will be easy.

 

[97Sandbox]

Do the keepers ever fuse to the rotators or retainers? I fully compressed the intake spring and still couldn't move the valve/keepers relative to the rotator. Then I tried the exhaust valve and it was the same story.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but after reading a lot and watching YouTube videos, I'm not seeing anything obvious.

 

[CDW6212R]

I haven't R&R'd many springs on the engine in a car, just twice. Both times it took a mild tapping on the top of the retainer to knock it down, off. Someone else will chime in, I think hitting the retainer is the proper step, but I'm not familiar enough to say how hard. The valve falling was my concern, and that was in 2001 on an engine I was about to remove to rebuild anyway. The 2nd time was helping a friend, with air, and he hit the retainers with a mallet and screw driver mildly.

The keepers are a tight fit inside the retainers on purpose, you have to break that bond loose. With the valves supported, you can be more forceful because there's no worry of the valve falling but pushing it down(loosing the air pressure seal). I'd smack it good with a mallet if you have one, or mildly with a hammer. Any narrow punch or screw driver will do, you won't hurt the retainers etc.

Also try hard to get the compressor as far to the bottom coil as possible, the more you can squeeze it, the easier the keepers will come out. A magnet may be helpful to lift them out depending on how tight it is when the retainer is down.

 

[97Sandbox]

Thanks, Don.

I read more on some Mustang forums and it sounds like keepers being varnished to retainers is a common issue and shocking them loose with a hammer is the usual solution. I'll try the socket-on-the-retainer method first and a punch on the keepers if the socket doesn't work.

Any reason spraying penetrant on the keepers would be a bad idea?

 

[CDW6212R]

That's a good idea too, spray them with PB Blaster or any penetrant.

 

[97Sandbox]

With PB blaster and seafoam, I got the keepers free on the cylinder 1 valves. The actual seal replacement was easy. I sprayed all the other valves and will work my way through tomorrow. Just turn the crank clockwise 90 deg each time and follow the firing order as I work cylinder to cylinder, right?

 

[410Fortune]

Yes

Get the spring compressor down on as many coils as you can, once you insert the black “legs” twist it like a screw down the spring until it won’t go any further. Then tighten.
Yes the silver tabs must clear the keepers
You will need to smack each valve with a hammer to shock the keepers so they come free more easily

Installing the valve stem seal, I remove the little spring before I press the new seal on. Also use the little plastic condom on each valve stem before you press the seal down and you must make sure the head sealing area is clean and dry and the seal gets pressed down fully. the condom and each seal gets dipped in clean oil before install. Then once it is seated Re apply the little spring.

It is a real pita to do this in the truck with that style valve spring compressor!
With that said I have done this 3 times in the truck with that same tool, 16 valves each time. Your hands will be sore after this.

Now instead I just pull the heads and do this on the bench with a easier to use compressor

I detailed the valve train install procedure in the 07 ranger
Build thread from when I installed the performance camshaft

 

[97Sandbox]

Get the spring compressor down on as many coils as you can, once you insert the black “legs” twist it like a screw down the spring until it won’t go any further. Then tighten.
Yes the silver tabs must clear the keepers
You will need to smack each valve with a hammer to shock the keepers so they come free more easily

Cool, that's how I did it. I ended up bending and re-bending the silver tabs to have them fit onto the rotator but not the keepers. Mallet on the valves after soaking seemed to help.

Installing the valve stem seal, I remove the little spring before I press the new seal on. Also use the little plastic condom on each valve stem before you press the seal down and you must make sure the head sealing area is clean and dry and the seal gets pressed down fully. the condom and each seal gets dipped in clean oil before install. Then once it is seated Re apply the little spring.

I did not remove the springs on the first two seals I did, but was very careful to keep everything square and well lubricated as I slid the seals into place.

Is the condom in the kit? I didn't see one, but also didn't know to look.
EDIT: There's a couple in there and I'll use them on the remaining seals.

I cleaned the crud off the head sealing area and dried with brake cleaner and shop towel. Of course it gets oily again when installing the oiled seal, right?

 

[410Fortune]

Well done!!

 

[97Sandbox]

Almost done with cylinder 3 valve seals and it's already purring like a kitten. Oh wait...