LN IMS retrofit

[Jamesp]

I can't speak to the 4 year service life on the bearing, my guess would be protecting against the possibility of corrosion. If you do it yourself one the most key things to do is rotate the crankshaft manually to top dead center. Failure to do this leaves the cam lobes loaded by the valve springs making them want to rotate when the IMS bearing is loose. If the cams do rotate (i.e. the timing slips) the job becomes extremely complicated.

[flaps10]

The 4/40 is a conservative estimate placed on the single row design. If it were like a wheel bearing and initial failure just means it gets noisy I'm sure that would be extended. However considering the quiet, catastrophic nature of ims failure a very conservative expected part life is a wise choice to protect product reputation

I totally agree that for a DIY the purchase of the two row upgrade requiring the faultless tool makes no financial sense to the end user. That money would buy the ims solution and not leave $700 gathering dust in your tool box

I would only add that the single row ceramic is surely better than the OEM.