Timing chain tensioner question
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Timing chain tensioner question
ok time for cleanup, originally posted this on my stupid phone.... it tried to auto correct "anti freeze" to "antibiotic freeze" and I tried to clean up its flubs several times when I originally posted, before I gave up. on the home computer "tower" now.
99 Dakota with a 3.9 125k miles.
im already pissed, because when I got the truck a year ago one of the many receipts in the glove box, was from the PO having paid out the azz having had the timing chain cover gasket replaced. Guess what I just got done tearing apart? Yup same damn thing again. I'm gonna have to replace the cover because it is so badly ate out. Should have been replaced the 1st time this job was done, if it had been I wouldn't be having to redo their shoddy work.
They had this engine Down to 1 bolt from having the timing chain off the truck. But as bad as they robbed the past owner to replace this gasket and they didn't ( couldn't??) do a complete job, that should have been done at that time. And for the same money as they extorted from the PO, or not very much more. It sure wouldn't have added more than 5 minutes to the job at the time. and they should have replaced the pitted up timing cover to prevent a relapse. but because they didn't, now I have to.
This is the 3rd instance of half azz shoddy work that I have had to address on this truck done initially by the same shop
Besides, only 5k miles before the timing chain cover gasket blew, they took the PO's money to do a water pump. Ive seen that before. change a water pump on one of these engines, then the timing chain gasket goes shortly later. So he has paid twice, to have that taken off and put back on. They should have done the timing chain gasket when they did the water pump the 1st time.
Yet, a year ago, I got the truck with all of the original 20 yo hoses still in place. More parts that they should have replaced as part of the job especially for as much as what was charged. They had them off, and in their hand, in the course of the work they DID do anyways.
They charged the guy 2x for alignment within a month, only around 1500 miles before I got the truck, it pulled heavily to the right when I drove it home, soon as I did get home I jacked up the front end to find 3 horribly bad ball joints. No wonder they could not do an alignment worth a $#!t... you cant align "slop" out of a front end. Again this shop must be run by a bunch of idiots. within 3 days of ownership I had to replace those (I did all 4) and pay YET AGAIN for another alignment. and now it has driven straight and not ate up the tires for 20k and counting, since.
$800 to (sloppily) replace every brake line on the truck but they couldn't replace the rubber hoses for another $30 at the same time> I don't get it. That brake line job would have been less than $100 and an afternoons worth of work, had I done it myself..... Highway robbery for a half baked job. You guys would not believe the pile of receipts that came with this truck, I sure didn't. and it was this pile of receipts showing how well the truck had been maintained that was a strong influence in telling me "I should buy THIS one" thinking that meant less I would have to do over the trucks time with me. WRONG!!! Ive had to do MORE work to this truck in the 1st year of ownership than any other vehicle I have owned, much of it backtracking where the PO had spent GOOD money....
seems they sold him more serpentine belts than oil changes.....
Any way, rant over for now.
I am doing this timing chain cover job over, and in such a way that hopefully I will never have to revisit this area again. New cover and this time it is getting a timing chain while it is apart. I have a new, double roller heavy duty one here that is going back on. Overkill? Probably. But this is my truck and I hate redo's. And my own labor costs me nothing. (but I have other things competing for my time)
So overkill it is.
In the process, this truck has a timing chain tensioner on it. That got busted as I pried it away from the chain, which had a ton of slop in it, as the adjustment was pretty much used up on the guide.
I am not a fan of a steel chain rubbing against a piece of plastic guide, but that's today's vehicles for you. I have seen 3.9s both with and without tensioners. yet the 318s and 360s never needed them and they used the SAME chain and gears as the 3.9 does. Given that I am going with the double roller chain set would you put a tensioner back in with the new chain and gears? Whaddya think? Will a double roller be any "harder" on a new tensioner than the old original style OEM chain would be? a double roller is less likely to stretch, and yes I know that the 3.9s are harder on timing chains than the V8s that they were built from ever were...….
99 Dakota with a 3.9 125k miles.
im already pissed, because when I got the truck a year ago one of the many receipts in the glove box, was from the PO having paid out the azz having had the timing chain cover gasket replaced. Guess what I just got done tearing apart? Yup same damn thing again. I'm gonna have to replace the cover because it is so badly ate out. Should have been replaced the 1st time this job was done, if it had been I wouldn't be having to redo their shoddy work.
They had this engine Down to 1 bolt from having the timing chain off the truck. But as bad as they robbed the past owner to replace this gasket and they didn't ( couldn't??) do a complete job, that should have been done at that time. And for the same money as they extorted from the PO, or not very much more. It sure wouldn't have added more than 5 minutes to the job at the time. and they should have replaced the pitted up timing cover to prevent a relapse. but because they didn't, now I have to.
This is the 3rd instance of half azz shoddy work that I have had to address on this truck done initially by the same shop
Besides, only 5k miles before the timing chain cover gasket blew, they took the PO's money to do a water pump. Ive seen that before. change a water pump on one of these engines, then the timing chain gasket goes shortly later. So he has paid twice, to have that taken off and put back on. They should have done the timing chain gasket when they did the water pump the 1st time.
Yet, a year ago, I got the truck with all of the original 20 yo hoses still in place. More parts that they should have replaced as part of the job especially for as much as what was charged. They had them off, and in their hand, in the course of the work they DID do anyways.
They charged the guy 2x for alignment within a month, only around 1500 miles before I got the truck, it pulled heavily to the right when I drove it home, soon as I did get home I jacked up the front end to find 3 horribly bad ball joints. No wonder they could not do an alignment worth a $#!t... you cant align "slop" out of a front end. Again this shop must be run by a bunch of idiots. within 3 days of ownership I had to replace those (I did all 4) and pay YET AGAIN for another alignment. and now it has driven straight and not ate up the tires for 20k and counting, since.
$800 to (sloppily) replace every brake line on the truck but they couldn't replace the rubber hoses for another $30 at the same time> I don't get it. That brake line job would have been less than $100 and an afternoons worth of work, had I done it myself..... Highway robbery for a half baked job. You guys would not believe the pile of receipts that came with this truck, I sure didn't. and it was this pile of receipts showing how well the truck had been maintained that was a strong influence in telling me "I should buy THIS one" thinking that meant less I would have to do over the trucks time with me. WRONG!!! Ive had to do MORE work to this truck in the 1st year of ownership than any other vehicle I have owned, much of it backtracking where the PO had spent GOOD money....
seems they sold him more serpentine belts than oil changes.....
Any way, rant over for now.
I am doing this timing chain cover job over, and in such a way that hopefully I will never have to revisit this area again. New cover and this time it is getting a timing chain while it is apart. I have a new, double roller heavy duty one here that is going back on. Overkill? Probably. But this is my truck and I hate redo's. And my own labor costs me nothing. (but I have other things competing for my time)
So overkill it is.
In the process, this truck has a timing chain tensioner on it. That got busted as I pried it away from the chain, which had a ton of slop in it, as the adjustment was pretty much used up on the guide.
I am not a fan of a steel chain rubbing against a piece of plastic guide, but that's today's vehicles for you. I have seen 3.9s both with and without tensioners. yet the 318s and 360s never needed them and they used the SAME chain and gears as the 3.9 does. Given that I am going with the double roller chain set would you put a tensioner back in with the new chain and gears? Whaddya think? Will a double roller be any "harder" on a new tensioner than the old original style OEM chain would be? a double roller is less likely to stretch, and yes I know that the 3.9s are harder on timing chains than the V8s that they were built from ever were...….
Last edited by volaredon; Jun 27, 2020 at 10:12 AM.
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From: Clayton MI
The original chain was a 'morse' style chain. A bunch of flat pieces of steel pinned together. That gives a pretty flat surface, and lots of surface area..... to ride on the tensioner. The double roller won't have any of those attributes, but, it is also far less prone to stretching than the morse style chains. I would skip the tensioner.
