SOHC V6 Timing Chain Saga

[99SportX]

I cant remember the thread size but I have 4 from when I put my OHV on the stand. The thread size is the same. I want to say it is a M10 but I am unsure of pitch (1.0 or 1.25?). I would remove one of the engine to trans bolts, take a look at the stand so you can figure out length and head to the store to match it.

I am eagerly following your thread. I hope to pull my SOHC and do a timing service so I can keep my engine running strong for years to come without issue. It has about 116k on it now and I hear a little rattle.

 

[2000StreetRod]

2nd Transformation

$140 plus tax at Harbor Freight buys what's in the photo below:

After about three hours of unpacking and assembly it transforms to this:

Which compacts to this:

Does anyone know about how much an SOHC V6 weighs?

 

[jonlax]

$140 plus tax at Harbor Freight buys what's in the photo below:
View attachment 58088

After about three hours of unpacking and assembly it transforms to this:
View attachment 58087

Which compacts to this:
View attachment 58089

Does anyone know about how much an SOHC V6 weighs?

Looks like they changed the design of the engine lift. Hopefully they fixed the problems!

As for the engine weight i would think at the least 350-400 lbs.

 

[2000StreetRod]

1/4 ton extension

Looks like they changed the design of the engine lift. Hopefully they fixed the problems!

As for the engine weight i would think at the least 350-400 lbs.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking without the water pump, alternator and valve covers it would weigh less than 500 pounds. That means I can set the crane for 1/4 ton and have the maximum extension/lift height with the boom.

I forgot to place the transmission selector in Neutral before disconnecting the fuel rails and the battery terminal. Now I have to disable the fuel pump and reconnect the battery in order to shift out of Park so I can roll the vehicle to get more maneuvering room for the crane. I hope to remove the hood today. It's a difficult job for one person but I'll come up with something.

 

[svt4cam]

You should have no problems with that stand. I've had a similar design for about 10 years and it always works well.

 

[petetheengineer]

The threads are pretty sure are m10 by 1.5 pitch.
As to the removal of the cvhain return guide i think that it would be a gross underestimation of the engineering invoilved in the design of this engine.
Speaking from design engineering experience that guide is there for many reasons and has been designed to aid in the following ways:

Chain Rattle = the return guide keeps the chain under control and stops it ratteling. ( the chain my seem slack on the back guide it is not when the oild pressure tensiones the chain)

Chain wear = i have been involved in alot of chain drive systems and if you ar linking between to fixed points them to lengthen the life of the chain you need to reduce chail slap and this is achieved by keeping it under constant tension.

Timing = If you removed the guide the oil tensioner may not be in its orerational specification and even if you removed a link or two there is no easy way to measure and ensure that it is. The other drawback is that you will get greater chain deflection when engine load changes and this will effect the cam timing. By removing the chain return guide you are taking away one of the methods that ford implemented to reduce the deflection.

There is no engine manufacturer that can design an engine to fail after x amount of miles.
Ford have done there job well in my eyes as the sohc engine usually lasts for 100+ thousand miles without a problem. There are many car manufactures that could only dream of bieng able to design an engine that would last that long.

The teflon coating is a good idea i have been using ptfe coating on alot of my engine parts. It might be worth people using products like slick 50 that actually coat the engine in ptfe.

 

[ranger7ltr]

You don't need to reconnect the battery to move the shifter...

I had to do the same thing when my heater control valve broke so I could move the truck forward to get out of the wet spot underneath it...

I just put the key in the lock and turned it and pressed on the brake pedal and pulled the shifter and moved the truck then placed the shifter back in park...

Try it and see if the shifter moves without the battery connected...Just remember to press on the brake pedal before trying to move the shifter after turning the key to on...

 

[petetheengineer]

I forgot to mention the only problem with the engine stands are that the engine is very top heavy be very carefull rotating the engine on the stand.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Thanks!

. . .
I just put the key in the lock and turned it and pressed on the brake pedal and pulled the shifter and moved the truck then placed the shifter back in park...

Try it and see if the shifter moves without the battery connected...Just remember to press on the brake pedal before trying to move the shifter after turning the key to on...

You're correct! My Tahoe has an electrical solenoid that energizes when the key is on and the brake pedal is depressed. I assumed the same was true for the Explorer. Apparently Ford uses a mechanical interlock which I prefer.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Chain tensioner

The threads are pretty sure are m10 by 1.5 pitch.
As to the removal of the cvhain return guide i think that it would be a gross underestimation of the engineering invoilved in the design of this engine.
Speaking from design engineering experience that guide is there for many reasons and has been designed to aid in the following ways:

Chain Rattle = the return guide keeps the chain under control and stops it ratteling. ( the chain my seem slack on the back guide it is not when the oild pressure tensiones the chain)

Chain wear = i have been involved in alot of chain drive systems and if you ar linking between to fixed points them to lengthen the life of the chain you need to reduce chail slap and this is achieved by keeping it under constant tension.

Timing = If you removed the guide the oil tensioner may not be in its orerational specification and even if you removed a link or two there is no easy way to measure and ensure that it is. The other drawback is that you will get greater chain deflection when engine load changes and this will effect the cam timing. By removing the chain return guide you are taking away one of the methods that ford implemented to reduce the deflection. . . .

As I recall the photo below illustrates the chain configuration for my 2600 Alfa Spider.

The upper chain had a single gear tensioner on the slack side and no tensioner or guide on the traction side. The lower chain had a combination guide/tensioner on the slack side and nothing on the traction side. I frequently abused the engine by exceeding max engine rpm while driving in parking lot cone races and never had to replace any of the timing chain components.

I was only considering eliminating the traction side guide and shortening the chain accordingly.

Thanks for the info on the trans to engine bolts.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

...........
The teflon coating is a good idea i have been using ptfe coating on alot of my engine parts. It might be worth people using products like slick 50 that actually coat the engine in ptfe.

This statement got me to thinking about the reduction of
anti-wear additives in motor oil in recent years. Specifically
ZDDP and phosphorous, which are drastically reduced nowdays
because of catalytic converter efficiency concerns.

Could this reduction in anti-wear additives be accellerating
the wear on these SOHC tensioners and guides....?

 

[2000StreetRod]

Able assistant

The photo below shows my new able assistant after tirelessly holding the hood up while I disconnected the upper ends of the hood support cartridges and before I unbolted the hood hinges.

The hood is not very heavy but is very awkward for one person to remove. An advantage of the separate hinge and cartridge mounting scheme is that when disconnected they drop out of the way below the fender line. This allowed me to raise the boom and then carefully slide the hood forward while resting on the pads. Using the boom also made me realize that I cannot raise the vehicle and support it with high jackstands and still have the engine oil pan clear the A/C condenser top during removal. To gain more lift I decreased the number of chain links between the boom and the hook.

 

[99SportX]

Good work removing the hood by yourself.

The truck definitely has to be on the ground or close to ride height when you lift the engine out. I helped a friend swap a 4.0 OHV engine in his 97 ranger and he was doing it in a friends garage. He did not have a jack or jackstands with him so when we lifted the motor out, the suspension unloaded and caused some problems for us. This is mostly because the garage ceiling was low and the tip of the hoist was hitting the rafters. lol We barely made it over the front radiator support with the oil pan.

I would recommend supporting the frame so you don't have to deal with the surprise of the suspension unloading and having it rise up. It just makes things easier to align when nothing can move on you. Keep it as low as possible though so you don't have problems clearing the oil pan.

 

[BobWiersema]

Are you planning a complete rebuild? I hate to say it but that's about the worst I ever saw.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Conflicting goals

. . .
I would recommend supporting the frame so you don't have to deal with the surprise of the suspension unloading and having it rise up. It just makes things easier to align when nothing can move on you. Keep it as low as possible though so you don't have problems clearing the oil pan.

My Haynes Manual suggests raising the body to make it easy to remove bolts on the underside. It doesn't mention that doing so may cause a clearance problem when removing the engine. I guess I'll raise the body first to work under it and then lower it just before actually raising the engine. I like your idea about jackstands supporting the weight and preventing movement. I don't want the transmission to change relative position when the engine is lifted and moved forward.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Minimal cost repair

Are you planning a complete rebuild? I hate to say it but that's about the worst I ever saw. . . .

Unfortunately, this particular effort will be a minimal cost repair (rear main seal and timing chain) while becoming more familiar with the engine design. I'll spend additional time (but little cost) cleaning it up before reinstallation. When I purchased my Sport I planned on a complete engine rebuild in a year or two but not six months. I promised my wife before buying my Sport that I would sell my Tahoe as soon as possible. I have some repairs to do on the Tahoe before putting it up for sale but keep getting distracted with Sport mods/repairs. Being retired I'll only drive my Sport about 3,000 miles per year so it should last until I have the time and money budgeted to do a proper rebuild.

 

[99SportX]

My Haynes Manual suggests raising the body to make it easy to remove bolts on the underside. It doesn't mention that doing so may cause a clearance problem when removing the engine. I guess I'll raise the body first to work under it and then lower it just before actually raising the engine. I like your idle about jackstands supporting the weight and preventing movement. I don't want the transmission to change relative position when the engine is lifted and moved forward.

I guess I can see how separating the body from frame would help access, but if you have a couple feet of extensions and a 13mm wobble socket you should be able to use an air impact, ratchet, or breaker bar on the bolts. One other option is that you could remove the transmission crossmember and drop the rear of the trans down a little just enough to give you more room to get the top couple bolts out. Then bolt the crossmember back up for removing the rest. Support the front of the trans with a floor jack to keep it from dropping when the engine becomes detatched. It may seem like a lot of work doing it this way, but I have a feeling it would be a heck of a lot more trouble to fight with all of the body to frame mounting bolts.

edit: I may have misunderstood what you meant by raise the body. Yes, raise the whole vehicle up to work on removing the engine to trans bolts, starter, torque converter to flywheel nuts, exhaust collector bolts, wiring harness, trans hard line bracket to block (if you have auto). Once that is done lower it down and finish the work topside.

 

[svt4cam]

2000, You'll find a helper to be invaluable for getting the top of trans to engine bolts out because one person needs to be behind the trans looking up the trans tunnel towards the motor to see the bolt heads with the extension and wrench and another person reaching up from underneath the bell housing to guide the flex socket onto the bolt head by command of the spotter. (with the rear crossmember out and drive shaft undone and the tail of the trans supported by a jack). I was replacing my trans so I needed as much clearance underneath as possible. What I did was put jack stands under the rear axle and then used my oil change drive on ramps under the front wheels. It made for a very stable platform for undercar horseing about. In your case for undercar work I would do the same and then jack up the front of the car to remove the ramps while leaving the rear on jackstands. Since the car will be tilting forward it might make your clearance issues easier?

 

[quickpick1]

When I pulled my 4.0 SOHC engine to change the rear cassette of my 2002 I used the Alternator bracket bolts with washers as spacers, pulling them up tight. The tensioner for the right side has a weak spring but is also hydraulic, using engine oil I was told.

 

[2000StreetRod]

alternator bolts

When I pulled my 4.0 SOHC engine to change the rear cassette of my 2002 I used the Alternator bracket bolts with washers as spacers, pulling them up tight. . . .

That sounds like a good idea. Today I plan to pull the cooling fan shroud, radiator and fan/clutch. I work slowly and only for 2 hours at a time. I make notes and take photos as I go. I bought my Sport as a project to occupy my retirement time so I don't want working on it to become a drudgery.

I may have to attach my come-along between the rear of the engine and the boom to tilt the front of the engine down when getting the oil pan to clear the radiator support.