How goes it, definitely my first post on here as this is the first time I've ever been frustrated enough to call it quits before my truck was up and running. Seeing if anyone has a fix for this. Replaced my timing cover to fix a leak as the old one was too corroded to reuse and when I went to bolt the water pump back on the passenger side bolt would not thread in. After pulling the whole thing off again and peeking inside with a flashlight I saw that the left side bolt hole on the block is ever so slightly off from the timing cover bolt hole. What in god's name should I do?

 

welcome to df.

so, with harmonic balancer off, if you place the cover up on the block, and start each bolt loosely, it won't line up ??

what happens if you start the off-location bolt hole first (loosely), will it align.

have you still got the original cover. compare to it. was it's top right hole off location to match, or perhaps wallowed-out to make fit ?

this off-location hole - is it one of the 4 big ones on the water jacket?
could it be redrilled up one or two sizes to make fit, without compromising anything?
where did this replacement timing cover come from ? junkyard (oem) or aftermarket casting ?

 

yes, exactly. The mounting holes lined up just fine when putting the timing cover back on but when I put the water pump on the far left bolt will not go through. And I'm not real high on the idea of drilling into the block to get this thing to go in. It's a brand new aftermarket casting. Everything lines up fine....minus this one bolt hole that I didn't find out until I tried to attach the water pump. Every other bolt on the WP went right in though.

 

I would pull it back off and compare to old one as dhvaughn suggested.

If it is new and different, I would take it back and exchange it.

 

Start ALL the bolts loosely, even the water pump bolts. Once the cover is in place, and tightened down appropriately, remove the bolts for the water pump, and install the pump.

 

First off, thanks for all the feedback. Yeah this morning the idea had come to me to include the water pump bolts while mounting the timing cover and make sure they ALL go in. Then just take em out after the RTV sets and it's time to mount the water pump. Also the holes on the timing cover aren't threaded so in the event I still can't get it to mount properly I'm thinking I'll just bore it out half a size bigger to give me room to line the bolt up with the block.... unless someone thinks for some reason that's a bad call. It's super frustrating thinking that thing was gonna be running today and now I'm two steps further back from yesterday.

 

Do you have the ability to post pics?

That may help....

 

so the hole that's off location is a non-threaded hole in the timing cover, right?

the first thing i'd try is a dry/test fit like Hey said. all timing cover bolts loose, plus the 4 long water pump bolts. does it fit that way? and if so, i'd also slide the harmonic balancer onto the crank so it centers the cover around the crank.

if that doesn't fit, then consider drilling out the off-location timing cover bolt about 1/16 inch larger ---or--- if you paid real money for this timing cover, consider returning it. where's it from? junkyard or aftermarket. if its aftermarket, make them make it right. a junkyard cover will be OEM, and likely fit better...

 

Just getting ready to start yanking this thing apart and if I can't figure it out I'll throw some pics up. Gonna try dry-fitting it and if it doesn't work out I'm going to bore the hole out a little extra but I think there might be enough play to get it fitted proplerly. It's aftermarket cast and unfortunately up in AK parts get expensive real fast and this was $120 vs the $325 Napa wants. So I'm gonna do my best for the sake of a cheap fix!

 

alright, got it on there yesterday. just put all the bolts thorough while RTV was curing as stated before. I appreciate all the responses. dodgeforum FTW!