the rotor won't be parallel to the block it will be slightly off parallel. 12* will be the passenger tire and 6* will be the drivers tire with 9* being the radiator and 3* being the firewall.

i apologize about not being on lately, i've been spending time with my sis since i don't see her all the time(like 5x a year).

 

Awesome.... that info helps a ton. Im going to give it a try one more time before I have it towed to a shop.

One more issue... what would cause the timing belt to want to walk off the gear? It's even walking off the pulley that has the lip on it.

 

did you check to see if its hitting anything? the walking could be causing the timing issue.

 

It's not hitting anything. Not really sure what it could be hitting as I don't have the lower or upper timing cover back on yet. I'm going to try to make it over to where my truck is sitting today to give it another go. I kindof thought that maybe I tightened the tensioner to tight. There doesn't seem to be a easy method to it. On that note, it should matter if I crank the timing belt tensioner clock wise or counter clock wise, right?
Hutch

 

okay.....anyone know a good mechanic in the columbus ohio area.???

I think I have the timing right...but timing belt either jumps (too loose) or walks off the drive (too tight I assume)
I'm ready to toss in the towel.

Thanks,
Hutch

 

i ran into that problem before with a slant 6 i rebuilt, when i put the timing gears on, checked the piston to see if it was at the top of the cylinder, aligned the dots found out i was 180 degrees off. the piston was on the exhaust stroke not the intake stroke so i removed the distributer and turned it around 180 degrees and it fired up. don't know if that would work on yours with a computer but if it doesn't you might want to check your timing gears, they may be 180 degrees off.

 

I would also check the timing belt itself to make sure that's in good shape and that none of the grooves have any debris or chunks sticking out or missing. You may have a manual tensioner on your engine unlike the automatic spring loaded ones found on the V6's and V8's but in a repair manual for your truck it should show the proper tension for your timing belt which if you have a manual tensioner, it should be measured by the slack in the belt. That measurement is done by using measuring tape or a ruler and seeing how much your belt flexes between the point where there's no added stress on it and the point where you press against it (to put it simply). In short, your belt could be too loose and allowing your timing to be improper. Also you could check for warped pulley's or pulley's that are not tightened down and secured properly, such as an idler wheel/pulley. Another thing is, over time some belts can even stretch out so much that no adjusting you can do can take up the extra slack and you just have to get a whole new belt entirely. As you can see unfortunately it could be a lot of things causing the belt to jump or walk off.

 

put your tensioner on tight and wiggle it to see if its loose. that might be your problem, the maximum deflection you should have is about a 1/4" on a new belt and the tensioner i believe goes counter clockwise(don't quote me on that), thats how i did it on my shelby z. i do recall the belt moving in and out a tad while the vehicle was running, but not to the point of falling off the pullies.

 

It is a manual tensioner and a new belt, so there shouldn't be anything wrong with the belt.

When I tighten it down there is zero play in belt... but you just made me think... maybe I didn't tighten down the actuall pully tight enough.??

 

UPDATE:
It's all strange... I have taken the truck to the Dodge Dealership. They later called me stating the replacement belt I had bought was the wrong kind. It had rounded groves and the gear has square groves (or vise versa I forget) So they ordered a mopar belt.
They got the belt in... and they said that the top cam gear is actually not the same teeth as the lower gear. So they asked me if I had changed the top gear out.
Now I'm waiting for them to give me a quote on a new cam gear. Not sure how much one of those cost!
Hutch