4.6L Explorer engine timing chain ooops!

Got a local customer with an Explorer who came to the shop with a noise coming from the front cover. As I suspected the timing chain guide on the pass side was broken completely and both movable guides were worn through, right down to the tensioner. Attached is some pics.....

 

[drdoom]

I don't know enough about it to say, but when I called Summit they said it would work, so I took my chances and it fits perfectly very easy to use and very secure. Made it quite simple to not have to remove the camshaft followers. It is placed at the middle of the camshaft more or less. Like I said I don't know that much about it and yes possibly this is not what the tool is made for but it held the camshaft from moving while I changed out the guides and tensioners so for me it worked fine.

 

[deaconblues]

Tom,

I've got some of the Ford manuals on disc, and can send them pdf if you need. But most stuff has been posted up here anyway. One of the best things you can do before you start the job is to get the motor at TDC on the #1 cylinder (passenger front cylinder) on the compression stroke.

If you do this before you take stuff off, you'll have a much easier time of it. You might find that a crankshaft turning nut (socket) is handy to own. One for a small block Chevy fits a mod motor crank perfectly.

If you have the cam holding tool, you can hold the camshaft still. Without having to worry about the camshaft moving (due to spring pressure), you could pull off timing components and put them right back on without having to do cam timing from scratch.

One other neat trick... if you end up having to loosen up the cam gear bolts, you'll find that the gear goes onto the keyway rather sloppily. This means that you could slightly advance or retard your camshafts, relative to the crankshaft, simply by moving the cam gear to one side of the slop or the other. It amounts to about 2 degrees of advance or retard. You should always advance the cam as much as possible, especially in a truck, within the slop range, to compensate for chain stretch over time.

If you loosen the cam bolts to do this, can you retighten them ('reuse'), or do you need to use new bolts? thanks!

 

[2000StreetRod]

None of my shop manuals for the SOHC and DOHC 4.6L mention replacing the camshaft sprocket retaining bolts when removing or installing the camshafts.

When I torque a bolt tightening an additional 90 degrees I set the torque wrench to a reasonable setting that I shouldn't exceed for the size of the bolt. That way I can detect a problem prior to breaking the bolt or stripping the threads.

 

[deaconblues]

Thanks StreetRod- must not be a TTY bolt on the cam then, cool. Thanks for your help!