Bad VVT gears

Can anyone help confirm if a VVT gear on the intake cam should be locked when the motor is not running? The reason I ask is I’m replacing timing chains and during installation the drivers side cam sprockets I am able to rotate the intake VVT gear freely without the cam moving.

 

Someone smarter than me will comment, on my 2JZ I was rebuilding the other day when I took it apart the VVT gear was locked, on reassembly it could spin freely since there was no oil in it. If it's not leaking I wouldn't be worried personally, once it gets oil pressure it will lockup where it wants.

 

Thank you for your expertise! I’m really hoping this is the case as the replacement is $500 and I’m hesitant to put everything back together before I feel 100% about it as it’s a big job.

 

If the 5.7 is similar to the 4.0, there is no vvt gear. The cam gear your seeing is attached to a hydraulic actuator and that attaches to the cam. The hydraulic actuator is filled with sealed oil and therefore should not rotate is the actuator seals are good.the actuator has two chamber. The vvt solenoid is a three way and it adds oil to on chamber while releasing oil fro the other to change the offset from the gear to the cam. In order to work, the gear must remain fixed to the cam at all times. It should feel like a solid connection

in your cas it may have leaked down due to sitting for a while or you did something like removing a vvt solenoid, to release the oil. As long as the chains are installed according to fsm, this will all address itself on startup