Got the compression tool this afternoon. Never one to work on something out in the shop when I can work on it inside in front of the TV and near snacks, I brought the cams in for the procedure. I ran into a problem right off the bat: My deep socket set only goes down to 9mm. I needed an 8mm, so I pressed an 8mm box-end wrench into service. It worked well until pressure caused the nylon washer under the nut to bulge, to the point where I can't get the wrench on it. If I had an 8mm deep socket I could probably bear down on it enough to seat the socket on the nut. As to why the washer accompanying the nut is made of nylon instead of brass or steel, that's a good question. Only two solutions to the problem, as I see it: (1) scare up an 8mm deep socket somewhere, or (2) use a metal washer under the nut. I lean toward (2), unless there's a compelling reason why I shouldn't. I invite your input.
Also, it's amazing how ingrained right-hand thread operation is. A half-dozen times I caught myself turning it clockwise with the intention of tightening it and groaning when I noticed the nut was traveling up the rod instead of down. When I consciously turned the nut counterclockwise to tighten it, it felt... wrong. And
weird. I suppose I'd get over it after a year or two, three years at most, of working with left-hand threads.
