Solved SOHC V6 Timing Chain Parts Sources

[Thev6thatcould]

You are correct. I will be reusing the jack shaft and crank sprockets. I only got the guide and 6 leaf tensioner

 

[Thev6thatcould]

2000streetrod- my new front left camshaft sprocket looks like the one posted in the pic above. My old one looks different. Will that be a problem? The old one looks wider in the middle.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Your year and model under your member indicates 2003 Explorer but you stated in an earlier post that yours is a 2002. My 2000 had the older camshaft timing components with none of the improvements. Below is my rear cassette with the upper part of the guide missing and the positioning post ground down by the flopping chain. I replaced the positioning post when I replaced the cassette.

The timing tool kit should work on all of the variations of the engine from 1997 thru its retirement year as should the latest cassette.

 

[Thev6thatcould]

Your year and model under your member indicates 2003 Explorer but you stated in an earlier post that yours is a 2002. My 2000 had the older camshaft timing components with none of the improvements. Below is my rear cassette with the upper part of the guide missing and the positioning post ground down by the flopping chain. I replaced the positioning post when I replaced the cassette.
View attachment 93120
The timing tool kit should work on all of the variations of the engine from 1997 thru its retirement year as should the latest cassette.

I have a 2003, but the motor I am working on is a 2002. I purchased it off of craigslist and I am planning on pulling my current motor and replacing it with this one

 

[Thev6thatcould]

i am talking about the cam sprocket on the front left. The current one looks different than the new one. Is that a problem? The new one looks like the one above that says tasca parts

 

[2000StreetRod]

Did you manually rotate the crankshaft and check for compression in each cylinder? How many camshaft degrees out of time is the passenger side?

 

[Paul Fithian]

Ford guides superior

The photos below compare the front and rear views of left cassettes from Cloyes and Ford. In all photos the Cloyes cassette is above the Ford cassette. Contrary to the information I received from Cloyes, their guides are manufactured by Borg Warner and are not identical to the Ford guides.
View attachment 64599
View attachment 64600

The plastic guides mount to the metal frame with clips that include a tit that fits into a hole in the frame. On the slack side there is a clip at each end of the metal frame and one between the ends. On the traction side there is a clip at each end and two between the ends. The clips keep the guide in position relative to the path of the chain.

The photos below show more detail of the traction side clips.
View attachment 64601
View attachment 64602
The Cloyes (Borg Warner) clips do not clamp the metal frame adequately and the **** are not engaged. The end clips will prevent the guide from moving lengthwise but the loose middle clips may allow side deflection of the guide. In my opinion the Ford guide is superior to the Cloyes guide.

The plastic guides are the weakest part of the cassettes. The chains and sprockets from both manufacturers seem to be of good quality and will probably last at least twice as long as the guides. However, if a guide fragment sufficiently binds a chain the chain may be damaged or break.

I'd like to weigh in on this comparison, specifically with regard to the molded nylon parts. I spent most of my professional career with one of the big nylon producers, and was heavily involved with Ford during development of nylon intake manifolds in the early 90's. So I have a pretty good background to comment on this.

The OEM parts are a greenish white. This indicates proper molding conditions for nylon with a copper based heat stabilizer. The Cloyes parts are a dark brown, indicating the nylon was overdried prior to molded and possibly deteriorated. The parts from other sources are likely molded in Asia and may not be the same material that Ford specified for these, a high viscosity Nylon 6/6. Nylon 6 is far more common in Asia and is often substituted by molders there. It does not have the temperature capability of Nylon 6/6. And it is likely that the same heat stabilizer package for the nylon was not used. I can attest that Ford's material group in Dearborn has a very long history of why a specific material is specified for a part like this. It is their business and mistakes will cost millions to fix.

Another difference would be in the mold that made these parts. All of the OEM parts I've seen listed show that the parts are Made in Italy. I can attest that moldmakers and molders in Italy are very good. If the molded part has any sharp internal corners, it will fail there. Look closely at an OEM part vs. an aftermarket part, you will likely see many sharp internal corners which are failure points.

I can tell by looking at these parts that they came from different molds. Note the ejector pin marks, they are different.

I may have to replace these on a 2001 Sport Trac that I recently acquired with 255,000 miles on it. I will purchase the OEM parts, as the work involved to replace is worth way more than any potential cost savings.

 

[2000StreetRod]

Thank you for providing that insight. It's a shame that Ford chose not to reinforce with metal the traction side of the rear cassette guide. A consideration may have been that normally the engine must be pulled to replace it. Many people would choose to have a rebuilt engine installed rather than rebuild an existing one due to labor costs. Am I correct that it would be impractical to imbed a metal reinforcement within a nylon molded part and that is why clips are utilized?

 

[Paul Fithian]

You can overmold a metal insert with nylon, or attach it with another method such as ultrasonic welding. Scissors are a great example of this.

But it has to be designed correctly to take into account different expansion rates between nylon and metal.

With regard to color, all natural color nylons turn brown with heat exposure over time. That's why all the parts that have been in the engine are dark brown when you take them out.

 

[Paul Fithian]

The left and right tensioners from Cloyes (shown below) appear to have been manufactured by Borg Warner. They seem to be of good quality and the spring pressure may be greater than that of the Ford ones I installed in my engine last year.

I wanted to offer a recent experience I had with these parts.

I acquired a 2001 Sport Trac with a 4.0 SOHC, 256,000 miles. Runs great, plugs are clean, and doesn't burn oil or leak.

It had a very brief (2 seconds) chain rattle on first cold start. So I ordered Cloyes timing chain tensioners from Rock Auto to address this issue. This is a Job 1 engine, so replacement of the left (driver) side tensioner requires removal of the intake manifold. A lot of work.

Both tensioners were primed with oil. Immediately upon start up with the new tensioners, chain slap was horrendous. Did not stop after ~ 20 minutes of engine running.

I replaced these with Ford 7U3Z-6K254-A and 7U3Z-6K254-B. Chain noise was gone when running, but it is the same as before on first cold start. Not sure what I can do about it at this time. I changed the oil to Mobil 1 5W-30, didn't seem to make any difference.

The Cloyes tensioners were made in Taiwan. The Ford tensioners were made in Italy. From my experience, I can only recommend the Ford parts for this application.

 

[Dasbu]

Anyone in need of the tools, I have them!

I have a brand new OTC 6488 Kit that I thought I was going to use, unfortunately after tearing into this engine, I decided to buy a new engine, so I now have a new timing tool kit, never used that I would like to sell, if your in need, then perhaps I could help.

Yes !!!! if its same needed for 4.0 in 2006 Mustang......pls.

 

[plasticseng]

Well, my Cloyes primary tensioner fell apart after 20,000 miles, and the front secondary guide is already starting to crack. I feel like sending them a bill for my labor and the new parts. I know I'd never see a dime, but it may make me feel better. I remember when Cloyes was considered to be an upgrade from OEM, but now it appears to be junk.

I just ordered all Motorcraft parts from Tasca, and got the engine pulled tonight. I could have fixed the primary and the front secondary without pulling it, but I have no faith in the rear secondary at this point.

Go Motorcraft only on this job.

 

[DinoEXP]

I had two timing kits. One from cloyes the other enginetech since it came with my kit off of rockauto. After reading this thread I immediately bought the two timing cassettes from ford $239. The cost of not having to go back into the motor...priceless.

 

[boominXplorer]

Installed a cloyes set recently and had a minor issue that led into pulling the engine back out. Customer had got the entire kit including sprockets from rock auto. It came unopened and packaged like no one else had been in there so I'm sure it was all cloyes. Vehicle was a well taken care of 2005 explorer with 180k. Only guides broken were the rear cassette and balance shaft tensioner.

After startup I had no chain noise after pressure priming.... Sweet all good right? Oh no why is the balancer shaking? Swap balancers and same thing. Ended up pulling the engine back out to examine the crank gears and found the key for the balance shaft sprocket a hair too wide causing that side of the gear to sit up about an 1/8". Swapped in the original 2 gears on the crank, retimed the entire engine, tossed it in and fired it up to see a perfectly straight balancer. I held both gears up side by side and really couldn't notice a difference but there sure was one with fitment.

I will only recommend Motorcraft from now on.

 

[allmyEXes]

This is a good thread that has some history to it because of the long run of the 4.0 SOHC original version and the improved version. I have two questions:
1-Has there been any improvement in any of the aftermarket parts?
2-Why does my 1997 2WD Explorer have a balance shaft and what does it do and can it be
deleted since mine is a 2WD? I figured 2000StreetRod could answer this...Thanks for starting this thread and your continued input...

 

[2000StreetRod]

I'm not familiar with after market parts improvements. I suspect that installing a balance shaft engine in a 2WD vehicle was a factory option to keep the assembly line going. Here's a link to a brief discussion regarding the balance shaft How to: - Balance Shaft Timing Procedure

 

[donalds]

Lots of people disable the balance shaft with no problems my 2Wd dont not even have one just use a screwdriver to pop a link out and remove the chain

 

[kcblakely]

Just to add to the recommendation: considering how difficult this job is, strongly recommend only Ford parts.

Personal experience: pulled engine and replaced all chains/guides/tensioners with a set i got off eBay for $100. Bad decision. 6K mi later, both the driver's side cam chain tensioner *and* the crank-jackshaft chain tensioner had come apart. I'm lucky a chunk of one of those things didn't get wound up in a chain.

 

[JonnyExplore84]

New to this forum lot of great info on here. I need some help so I bought a Melling timing kit (Mell-Gear) off Amazon it was half off damaged box but when I got it it cane in the Mell-Gear box but the parts say Borg Warner? I know that they make Cloyes. I went with cause it was recommended buy a Ford Mechanic. I didn't want the Cloyes cause of bad reviews. Can anyone help me please? I would of just bought OEM if I knew this was going to happen. Thabks

 

[2000StreetRod]

New to this forum lot of great info on here. I need some help so I bought a Melling timing kit (Mell-Gear) off Amazon it was half off damaged box but when I got it it cane in the Mell-Gear box but the parts say Borg Warner? I know that they make Cloyes. I went with cause it was recommended buy a Ford Mechanic. I didn't want the Cloyes cause of bad reviews. Can anyone help me please? I would of just bought OEM if I knew this was going to happen. Thabks

If you send me your email address I'll email you a copy of the engine assembly instructions. Also, if you click on "My Helpful Threads" below you'll find links to many timing chain related threads.