Hey everybody,
I've got a 01' 1500 5.2, doing my plenum, front/rear main seals, timing chain, and oil pump all at the same time.
Everythings going smooth, except I might have gotten a little ahead of myself with the timing chain.

I pulled the balancer, slid off the old chain/sprockets, and just slid on the new one. Now, I'm not sure how bad/if I even screwed myself, but I didn't align to TDC (?) or face the dots on the sprockets, or move the crank at all. Am I supposed to just bolt up and go? Or was I supposed to align this stuff properly? And if I was supposed to align it properly, WHAT THE HELL CAN I DO TO FIX THIS??

 

If you did not move either the crank or the cam, you should be good. Does cam sprocket have more than one keyway in it?

 

I made sure not to move either one and my cam sprocket only has one keyway

 

As long as NOTHING was moved after the old one was removed and before the new one put on, theres nothing to worry about.

 

I'm 99% sure nothing was, i just pulled them off and tapped them both on at the same time. Thanks for the replies fellas

 

I just bolt everything back up, right? No need to try and turn anything now?

 

No turning. Just close up (torque everything correctly), seal it up, and put all the other stuff back on. Dis you get new waterpumpt and tsat? and if you cut off the tab on tsat housing, it will be easier to remove if you need to down the line.

 

It can be a butt-puckering experience. There was a member here not long after I joined, that really screwed up his motor while doing a timing chain replacement.

 

Will do, I replaced my water pump last year and I've gone through 2 tstats now (180), all new gaskets (except the o'reillys guy forgot to get me my oil pan gasket, getting tomorrow) and besides breaking the oil pressure sensor twice now (old and new one) I think I have a slight clue what I'm doing. I've had my truck a faithful 5 years now since I turned 16, I want to keep her as long as I can, so yes, a little butt-puckering hahaha.
Thanks guys

 

you're fine.

as said, remove old, reinstall new. no turning...

on the keyway discussion. the cam sprocket will only have 1 key. the crank MIGHT have 1 or might have 3. if it has 3, use the middle one, which is 0 advance.

AFTER its bolted back on, you can rotate the engine and for feeling good - verify the dots are aligned like this. note keyway postion. by the way, this is TDC #6.