2006 Predator 500 camshaft timing....

[HeWasRidinDirty]

I had to adjust the valves on this 500 (and  few other things) and I'm trying to get the cam timing right, and something is really out-of-whack here. It seems anyway. When I line up the dots like the service manual describes, the lobes on the 2 cams are in almost in the same position. According to the manual (and a youtube vid or 2) the lobes should be at aproximatley 10 oclock on the int and 2 oclock on the exhaust. These are nowhere near that. There must be a woodruff type key on the sprockets. I wonder if those are sheared off? Thanks for any input! 

[Frank Angerano]

Have you reviewed your work and back tracked to see that your at TDC on a compression stroke and the cams arent  just 180 degrees out ? 

[HeWasRidinDirty]

Yes I have. But when the cams are out it really doesn't make any difference. As long as  the piston is at tdc. If  there no cams involved then it doesn't matter. But, that isn't really the issue. 

[HeWasRidinDirty]

Note the position of the lobes in this diagram out of the manual. That's the issue. Intake is on the left, just like in my pics above. 

[Frank Angerano]

Yep i see that. We just seen this before but i would doubt that both keyways sheared of.  You have the cams in the proper place, ex and int? If you swap them the lobe position should change ?  

[HeWasRidinDirty]

It's pretty difficult to mix them up. The ex cam has the decompressor on it. I may have to go talk to the Poalris tech on tuesday. Show him what I got. 

[Frank Angerano]

Probably a good idea, maybe they can shed some light on this.   

[HeWasRidinDirty]

On 2/23/2020 at 7:21 PM, Frank Angerano said:

Probably a good idea, maybe they can shed some light on this.   

So ,check it out Frank. I went to see the Polaris tech yesterday and he, they were just as puzzled as I was. We noticed that if I was to put the timing marks opposite of what the diagram shows, then the lobes seemed like they were in the ballpark. The guy said just line em up in the 10/2 positions and go for it. So I did that. Cranking it over by hand and there was some interference with piston and valve. I took the intake cam and turned it 1 tooth and, by eyeball, it looked dead on. I put some oil in and gave it a shot of ether and as soon as I touched that starter button, she fired up. It shut off right away and I gave a fist pump and shouted F**K YA! My wife came out wondering what was wrong. LOL. I said nothing. Gave it another shot of ether and hit the button....

[Frank Angerano]

Wow that is puzzling but great news.   
Best thing you did was to crank it slow looking for interference. Some people will hit the starter button and do some damage.   
Ride safe.