Nice story to read about you and your dad. 😁

Anyways the decision is yours sorry to say..lol. Its a toss up and somewhat of a gamble with used vehicles and how much money to put into them.
Here was my situation
My truck as I called was actually my nephews truck.
Good overall condition. Over 200000 kilometers or 120000 miles.
No good used engines available
Dodge had no reman engines nor did they have camshafts or lifters in stock, on back order wth no expected date when they would be available.
A few engine rebuilders around with prices around 6000 canadian.
I recieved a quote locally of around 3500 to do the repair leaving the engine in the truck but he couldn't do the job until parts became available.
We decided to fix the issue ourselves ..
the cheapest way...but also tried to do what should be done...trying to keep in mind the year, mileage and resale value.
We ordered parts from USA and had them shipped paying duties etc. I believe it ended around 2700 canadian...parts only.

We replaced camshaft lifters oil pump timing chain and gears, along with gaskets. Rockers and push rods were ok.
We also went with a non mds cam and lifters which required a few different parts and some computer programming...but that's another story.
In my opinion...IF you do in fact have a camshaft failure it is best to do it sooner than later. IF your camshaft is wearing excessively, the tiny metal particles will be flowing through your oil possibly causing damage to other engine internals. Which brings me to my next point. lol. Due to the amount of engine disassembly (heads have to come off) I feel its more practicable to remove entire engine for disassembly and proper cleaning of the engine internally including the oil pan and oil sump pick up tube. We found ours with considerable dirt!

Good luck with your decision. Before doing anything I would be trying to get a good diagnosis (or 2) to confirm the cause of the dreaded tick.

 

Hoping this video will upload

 

Didn’t upload. How do I attach a video

 

When they did the de-sludge, the oil that came out after they put in the solvent, was just really dirty. (Actually surprised by how dark it was since I change it regularly). There weren't any shavings of any kind in it. Other than being dark, it looked pretty good I think. So that kinda told me, the tick may not be something to worry about. I just hate it. Ugh. I tried to post a video. Not sure how to do it. Maybe because I'm doing it from my phone. I don't know. then maybe you have to be on this site for a while before you can post videos.

 

Okay, think I got it. This is what it sounds like

 

Sorry. Couldnt get vid to play. Maybe just me..

 

Video worked fine for me. (windows media player. Probably VLC Media Player would work as well.)

The noise sound intermittent...... is that the one you are going after? If it is, need to isolate it a bit more.

 

Yes that is the noise. Sometimes it’s a bit louder than others. Now yesterday right after I picked it up from the mechanic after doing the de-sludge, it was a lot louder. The video is from this morning. They told me to drive it a couple of days to give the Lucas oil treatment time to work through the engine. To me, it sounds a lot like it did when the exhaust manifold bolts needed to be replaced. But the noise before would only do it on start up when it was cold. Then it would go away completely. This noise now doesn’t go away. It’s constant.

I ordered a mechanics stethoscope last night. Supposed to get it tomorrow. Also tomorrow I’m going out of town. So after I drive it tomorrow (90 miles one way) and come home, I will check it out with the stethoscope if the noise is still there. Maybe the oil treatment will work it’s magic and the noise will be gone when I get home tomorrow night. 😁.

 

Also yesterday when I picked it up I told the guy it sounded worse after the de-sludge. I told him it sounded like broken manifold bolt. He asked me if I wanted him to check the manifold bolts. I said yeah if he didn’t mind. He said no problem. Well I went back about an hour later and he said he talked to the owner of the shop and he didn’t want to check the manifold bolts because they had just done them a couple of months ago. He said you have to take off several things to get to the manifold bolts. I told the guy it kinda bothered me that they didn’t want to double check them. That’s when they said to drive it a couple of days first to let the oil treatment work through the engine. If I come home tomorrow night and the noise is still there I’m going to take it to another mechanic and pay them to check the bolts. If they end up being broken then I will go back to my mechanic and make him warranty the parts. To me they shouldn’t be broken this quick. I’ve put maybe 2000 miles on the truck since they changed the bolts. All of them.

 

They shouldn't have broken in the first place..... My theory on that is it's just a poor manifold design. ALL the exhaust goes thru that back area, so it gets nice and toasty warm. It isn't a real beefy casting either...... So, somethin's gotta give.

A fair few folks have replace the stock manifolds with shorty headers, and I haven't heard of any of them complaining about broken bolts again.