my new timing chain and sprockets, harmonic balancer and crank pulley are on! i'll post some pics i took through the process. I took some before, during and after the new chain and sprockets were on. You'll see that i had more than 1/2''slack in the chain but not quite 3/4" as it looks in the pic. I could barely see any wear on the sprockets. maybe the top of the teeth had a little more of a point than the new ones but very little. for 252,000 miles i didn't think they looked bad at all. I suppose after another 250,000 they would really show wear so i am glad i changed them. There is also a pic of the new chain and sprockets on. The new chain was nice and snug. The balancer was showing cracks in the rubber (you cant see so well in the pics) the crank pulley rubber didn't look bad at all. I didn't want to mess with taking the flywheel cover and crossover pipe off to put something in the teeth to keep the engine from rolling over as i was replacing the balancer so i took a prybar and wedged in the hole of the balancer, against the front cover/oil pan and that kept it from turning. I had to use the 2ft pipe you see in the picture. I had to hold the prybar as i was pushing the breakerbar. I might add be careful when doing this itd be easy to pull something (man muscle). Overall it wasn't a really hard job, it just takes time getting everything apart and cleaning everything up good before going back together. I also blew out the radiator and washed it out while it was out. I put on a new tensioner pulley as mine sounded dry and a new serpentine belt. I realize there are pics like this on here but i figured i'd post mine anyway.

good job!

Good pics...thanks for posting! So what made you decide to replace? Preventive maintenance? Ive thought about it myself, Im at about 155k, bought it with 140k and dont know much of the service history.....

So you used a prybar to keep it from turning to remove the old balancer.....how did you hold it to reinstall??

Good write-up and thanks for the pics!!

Good pics...thanks for posting! So what made you decide to replace? Preventive maintenance? Ive thought about it myself, Im at about 155k, bought it with 140k and dont know much of the service history.....

So you used a prybar to keep it from turning to remove the old balancer.....how did you hold it to reinstall??


Preventative maintenance! I didn't want something to happen and leave me stranded or toast the engine. I don;t regret not doing it sooner. I'd say if you know the maintenance history as i do (bought it with 47,000 on the clock) than i think you'd be safe to run a least 250,000 before doing this type of work.

I used a prybar the same way for installing. It be easiest with 2 people, one to hold the prybar and one to torque. make sure the prybar has a good hold before you torque away. And no damage was done by the prybar to the oil pan or front cover. I checked. i was not crazy about having to mess with the rusty exhaust manifold bolts to get the cross over pipe so the flywheel cover would come off. its been cold around here. I had a space heater but still did not want to lie on my back; the concrete was freezing!

So you used a prybar to keep it from turning to remove the old balancer.....how did you hold it to reinstall??

Pull the plastic cover off the flywheel and jack a block lightly onto it.

i took some pics of the old crank spocket, cam sprocket and chain. They were by no means in bad shape. The chain had very little side to side movement, it had just stretched to the point it needed replacement. The sprockets, as i said before, showed very,very little wear. Some might suggest to leave the sprockets alone and just replace the chain but i figure this new set would be good for another 250,000 miles (if the rest of the engine makes it that long). plus, you might as well replace them while everything is apart. its good insurance.

Good write up; see guys tech stuff isn't just something us mods can do ya'll can add stuff as well, I'll be linking this in FAQ

I used a piece of 1"x1" square tubing, with holes drilled for two of the pulley bolt holes, I cut it long enough so it would hit the frame and hold the crank from turning.