Currently I am replacing the camshaft + lifters on my 2001 4.0L Disco 2 as I am having issues with a ticking noise when the engine gets to temp, and while I am there I am also refreshing the oil pump, timing chain, and crank/cam gears. When I removed the camshaft, I noticed that cam bearing #4 has some pretty serious damage (see pictures). Has anyone encountered this before or any idea what could have caused this? Could this be the cause of my ticking noise? The damage looks to be pretty extensive and I would assume it needs to be replaced.. Has anyone replaced bearings before with the engine in the truck? From my research, it would seem that its best to pull the block and have a machine shop match the bearings to the new cam.

 

Have never seen that, I think that could be the source of your oil pressure issue and ticking. Replace it.

 

I replaced them, with the block in the truck. You will need to get the pre-machined ones (lucky8 used to sell those). Unfortuanatley it involves taking out the radiator and the a/c condenser. You will need a fancy tool like this: the last bearing in the block, can't be pushed out for obvious reasons, so I ended up cutting it out. Generally, it's all pretty simple but very easy to screw up. And of course, breaking in the new camshaft is probably the most stressful fix I had to do on my truck.