[Jason Pittenger]

Before I get too far, I want to make sure I have the right piece!

When my engine rebuild, I discovered my rear exhaust camshaft had some abnormal wear. I bought a camshaft off of eBay to replace it. I received it today, and it is stamped with VN700. None of my camshaft have any model stampings on them. The seller labeled it as a 1996 VN750 camshaft 12044-1344.

Looking at Kawasakipartshouse.com, that number is used on the 1994-2006 VN750. Part number 12044-1147 is used on the 1985 VN700 and 1986-2006 VN750.

Holding it next to my rear exhaust camshaft, the lobes seem slightly different, though that assumes the open and close rate is symmetrical. The hole in the gears match in position.

Holding it next to my front exhaust camshaft, the lobes match. However, the hole in the gears don't match. To my untrained eye, it looks correct. The VN700 and VN750 seem to share cams. The stamping is throwing me off. 1996 is too late to have VN700 cams still lying around the factory. I would have expected mine to be more likely to have that than a '96.

It does look used, but in great condition.

Picture order is rear lobes, rear lobes, stamping, front lobes, front lobes.

 

[Spockster]

I think you're probably ok. Thought they could have done a slightly different cam grind for a 700, but if you have those lined up good in the pics, it looks like just very slight variation in the machining over the production runs. With any old vernier calipers you could better gauge the lobes and check the angles on the ramp areas.

With calipers, you should check the cam journal diameters and make sure they're in tolerance. Aren't the Cam's lapped to the head instead of having bearing shells? There's something about how these cam journals are fitted, but I'm on my phone, so hard to check.

I just learned to make a paragraph.

Help me out... Are the front/rear intake Cams different? Seems like Cams couldn't be swapped front/rear, or am I cornfused?

 

[Spockster]

Reason I thought about the cam grind.... In the 60s, Chevy had something like 18-22 different cam grinds in the small blocks to help come up with all the varying horsepower/torque numbers. Some just got a different cam, others got a specific cam along with valve sizes and compression ratios.

Lawnmower horsepower, they slap a bigger carb on until hp peaks, then they have to bore, etc. to sell more hp.

 

[Jason Pittenger]

Thanks! It seems close enough. Certainly closer than my old worn one.
I'm still learning engine stuff, so I wasn't sure how much of a difference it would make.