Hello all, so I知 ordering parts to get ready to pull engine and rebuild timing system, 2001 ranger 4wd 4.0. I知 having the chain rattle on startup, pulled right valve cover and rear guide is gone, only the bolt left. I ordered the Melling 3-398S kit, it has notes that states because of many changes over yrs the front jack shaft, balance shaft, and crankshaft sprockets must be replaced with current OE design, because of a 2mm shift , if I re-use old gears will cause failure? Question is, YouTube video fordmakuloco has very detailed video doing this job with same exact kit and he used his old gears as well as others have.. so anyone who done this repair did you put all new gears on front or reuse any? Thanks for input!

 

I don't think it is necessary to install new sprockets. I ordered OEM cassettes kits that included new sprockets because I just did not want to risk it. I plan to run my Ranger for a long time. The only sprocket I didn't replace was the main drive sprocket on the crank. I ordered one for it, but it had that 2mm shift that caused a misalignment to the jackshaft sprocket. That crankshaft sprocket is small and drives everything. I thoroughly examined it and could not see any signs of significant wear. I reused it and don't think I will have any problems with it. The sprockets on the jackshaft and cams shouldn't see near the wear as the crankshaft sprocket and unless you see any damage to them, they should not need replacement. Just make sure the sprockets on each end of the chains are aligned. If you use all your original sprockets, they should be aligned. I can't imagine the guides would be different than the originals.

My 02 4.0 SOHC engine did not have the balance shaft and it seems that is fairly common in 02 and up. I don't know about 01. I bought the tensioner and guide for it but returned them for a refund. I highly recommend ordering the tensioner and guide for the crank to jackshaft chain. That tensioner on my engine was totally broken off. That was the only thing broken on my engine.

I also highly recommend replacing the front and rear TTY jackshaft bolts. I think not replacing them is part of the reason why some people have problems with timing slipping after doing this job.

 

In2 fx4 Thank you for all the good info ! The kit I bought has new camshaft and lower chain sprockets. It does come with the jackshaft to crank tensioner, and I also ordered new jackshaft bolts. My motor is strong, runs very smooth..I hope this will be first and last time I do timing chains. I bought a new water pump, any other thing normally replaced when tore down to that point? Thanks.

 

It sounds like you pretty much have it covered. Hopefully the kit comes with valve cover gaskets. They tend to fail in time and should be replaced. Other gaskets are the water pump gasket of course, the intake gaskets (reusable and may not be needed), and the front cover gasket. I also replaced the front cover seal. I recommend replacing the coolant bypass hose that goes from the water pump to the thermostat housing. There is a plug that covers the rear jackshaft bolt and gets damaged when removing it. It may come with the kit, but you should check to make sure. It is a good time to replace the PCV valve if it has not been done recently.

My thermostat housing was partially broken but still useable. I am now in the process of replacing it with an aluminum one from RockAuto.

I have over 255K miles on my Ranger and I have a bypass micron oil filter that uses about 15-20% of the oil volume. After towing and coming to a stop, at idle my oil pressure gage would flicker. I decided to install a Melling high volume oil pump to fix that, and it did. If you don't have that problem there is probably no need to upgrade the oil pump.

The fordmakuloco video shows removing the "rockers" for the valves. My brother (professional mechanic) helped me and said we didn't need to remove them. We did it without and it worked fine. I am not sure why fordmakuloco recommends removing them other than it makes it easier to rotate the cam and possibly more precise timing. If you have the tools to remove the "rockers" it may be good to do it. Otherwise, it worked for me removing them.

 

I will try it without removing the rockers and cam, makuloco was asked about it and said he did just to inspect cam tower ect.. I will plan on using my old jackshaft front sprocket,and crank, balancer if they look ok. Maybe spend that $ on a new oil pump. Thanks for all the help, how did ppl get things done before we had the internet lol!

 

So if I put the timing tool on harmonic dampener, and put engine at TDC then remove all the chains and such, whenever i put new chains and sprockets on the cams should not have to be moved much at all to lock them in place with the tool kit ? No danger of damaging any valves by leaving camshafts and rockers in place? I finally got all the parts in and getting ready to pull engine and start the job..wish me luck lol!

 

I finished timing rebuild last night, no leftover bolts and motor sounds and runs great. I put a new oil pump on as well, re-used my old fro t jackshaft and crank gear. I discovered my motor did not have the balance shaft so had those parts leftover. Thanks for the help you guys are great!

 

Excellent news!

 

Good work. I am always happy to hear of success stories, especially about this one which is not easy.

 

Thank you. After watching the video series by makuloco, it went exactly as expected, just a VERY time consuming job solo. If I were to do this job again for someone else not family or friend, it would be at least $1k labor job lol!