2006 4.0 Anyone use Ultra Power or SKP timing kit?

[besel53]

New here, but not new to Fords and wrenching on them. My son has an '06 Eddie Bauer with the 4.0. 174K miles. He bought it with a brand new transmission in it, and the motor seemingly ran well. After a while, he said it was rattling a lot. Doh. (Didn't listen to me when he bought it about hearing it on a cold start...) Oh well. Anyway, we did replace the intake and valve cover gaskets recently (more of an exploratory mission), and of course, the rear guide is trashed with the chain flopping around. It's still running decently and no codes, so the chain has skipped at all (yet). Been watching plenty of vids on pulling the engine and doing all the work. I did a little searching, but didn't find a good written "guide". Lots of good YouTube vids, but haven't found much for write ups. Are they any you know of? We are planning on pulling both upper/lower oil pans to clean everything out good. Also will be replacing water pump while we're at it as a preventative measure. I'll still be doing a lot of research, but figured I'd post up in here to learn from people that have already done this. Couple questions:

-Has anyone used the cheaper sets (Ultra-Power, SKP, EngineTech) from Rockauto? Any issues? Or should I tell him to suck it up and get a Cloyes set or another brand?

-Anyone have a full list of the gaskets and/or other parts I should replace while in there?

-Has anyone bought the cheap timing tool set from DP Tool (or another China manufacturer) on Amazon? It's only 69 bucks, and looks like it does everything the more expensive kits do. Some complaints about having to grind so the main part closes all the way on the cogs, but that's not an issue for me.

-Also wondering what bolts I will all need to replace that are torque to yield.

TIA for any info and links associated with this project.

 

[Bazz270]

Rockauto cheap timing parts are all probably piece of sh$it.especially the nonames like Ultra-power etc.

 

[donalds]

Motorcraft
Cloyes
Melling
Only ones I'd buy

 

[platinumgarage]

I have used about every kit on the market. Cloyes is now outsourced in Taiwan. Recently I have found myself getting the Duralast kits from Autozone. They are manufactured by SA Gear.

You get what you pay for. A lot of times the front hydraulic tensioner goes bad. Not sure why, but the rear one stays tight.

I have timed probably 50 4.0s using the $70 timing tool kit. No issues whatsoever and I guarantee most of the poor reviews are from user error.

 

[donalds]

I have used about every kit on the market. Cloyes is now outsourced in Taiwan. Recently I have found myself getting the Duralast kits from Autozone. They are manufactured by SA Gear.

You get what you pay for. A lot of times the front hydraulic tensioner goes bad. Not sure why, but the rear one stays tight.

I have timed probably 50 4.0s using the $70 timing tool kit. No issues whatsoever and I guarantee most of the poor reviews are from user error.

Love your vids keep it up

 

[platinumgarage]

Love your vids keep it up

Thank you so much!

 

[besel53]

I have used about every kit on the market. Cloyes is now outsourced in Taiwan. Recently I have found myself getting the Duralast kits from Autozone. They are manufactured by SA Gear.

You get what you pay for. A lot of times the front hydraulic tensioner goes bad. Not sure why, but the rear one stays tight.

I have timed probably 50 4.0s using the $70 timing tool kit. No issues whatsoever and I guarantee most of the poor reviews are from user error.

Awesome, thanks for the advice. Have been watching your vids already and am a subscriber. Working on putting together a list for it. Planning the job for mid May.

 

[platinumgarage]

Awesome, thanks for the advice. Have been watching your vids already and am a subscriber. Working on putting together a list for it. Planning the job for mid May.

Much appreciated. Any questions feel free to email me. My address is in the description of my videos.