Forgive my ignorance peoples, I'm still learning here....my poor beat up Dakota has turned into my gateway to learn about cars.
I've had a really annoying rattling noise coming from the engine for quite some time now, and I'm worried that it is the timing chain. 'Course, my Dak has been wrecked three times so it could be anything lol. BUT seriously, I was kind of wanting to wait to check the timing gear until I get all the replacement body parts for the front end because I'm going to have to pull all of that off anyway to check the chain.
IF the chain is messed up, my boyfriend is saying it would be far better to put a gear drive on the dak instead of a new timing chain. Is this any good, or just a stupid idea?
Just wondering....like I said, I'm still trying to figure all of this out!!

 

not sure they make a gear drive for these, and if thy do they are really noisy. i would get a double roller from summitracing.com so you wont have to do it again. these truck are know for timing chain noise after a while, and you dont have to take any of the body parts off the front to do the swap.

 

Double Roller is the way to go.

 

What brand do you recommend? I want to do this right the first time...

 

I have Mopar Performance. Or, you can go with Sealed Power.

 

I would strongly recommend Mopar Performance. For the money its the best and you wont have to worry about getting something that doesnt exactly fit. And summit racing is great cause they allow you to double check the application before you buy. And after you purcahse it you can tell them that you found it cheaper at:

http://www.5-starperformance.com/ser...-Roller/Detail

and they will match the price!

I would also recommend that you do a www.froogle.com search for the part number to make sure you have the cheapest price at the time.

 

The gear drive is cool. and is stronger but you dont need that streanth untill you hit 400hp. It does have a little bit of noise, which is normal. I have them for my 82 TA dragster. So the dubble roller chin set up is best. I have the mopar performance as well, in my truck. When you check the chain, it is hard to ever tell it is streached, it will look normal. If your going that far to check it. Just replace it. They are cheep. And easy to change.

 

gear drives sound sick. I recommend gear drives. You won't ever have to replace it.

 

I luv gear drives them things are awesome but unfortunly they only make a gear drive for the LA engine.

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...=KeywordSearch

 

mine started slapping at 100,000 miles. replaced it with a cheap $50 replacement and at 200,000 miles there's not a sound. works great and i'm hard on the truck.