lavta3

Hey guys, I ended up taking on this project last weekend. Took 2 days with about 6 hours of work each day.

All of this actually started out with me wanting to fix some leaks (yes, the obvious one was the front oil seal and the water pump), then it kind of evolved into a plan for a bigger tear down since I was already planning on having the downtime.
Overall this was a pretty simple project, just a lot of parts to remove. (I could have left some of the parts on, but I wanted to clean up the cover)

I'll be making updates/changes/organizing this post over the next few days, this is what I was able to throw together over my break today.
If you notice anything wrong or out of place, pm or comment below and I'll make the changes.

Day 1: Remove everything
Day 2: Clean and reinstall everything except for harmonic balancer pulley (Ordered pulley on Saturday since the rubber on the original was flaking off), refill all fluid
Morning after: Install pulley/belt and start jeep.

Video of chain

1. Put the jeep in neutral and block the tires (this is to allow you to line up the timing marks in step 17)
2. Unhook battery
3. Drain oil 1x 13mm bolt & remove oil filter
4. Drain coolant (Or use a huge bucket while removing the water pump)
5. Remove dust shield 7x15mm bolts
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6. Remove oil pan - 16x 10mm bolts, 2x 10mm nuts, I also removed the oil pick up line, to create more room to move around
   Detailed guide by JackMac4: https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58368
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7. Remove serpentine belt - by using a 3/8th wrench to push down on the belt tensioner
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8. Remove harmonic balancer
   1. Remove the 15mm bolt with a torque gun if available ( I used a micro torque gun, worth the $80 spent on it)
   2. Remove the pulley by using a three claw puller (rented from Advanced Auto parts, part # )
      1. It helps to remove one of the claws from the assembly, insert two of the claws into the pulley, then insert the third one into pulley and puller assembly. (see pictures)
      2. Don’t forget to insert the LONG push rod into the tool AND to put a little grease on the bolt
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9. Remove air box, tube, hose, sensor
10. Remove water pump, 7 x 10mm bolts
    1. I also removed the pulley off of the water pump, since I was not replacing that. 3x 13mm bolts
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11. Remove alternator - 2x 16mm bolts, 1x 13mm bolt, 1x 13mm nut
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12. Remove idler - (probably wasn’t needed, but I wanted to clean the cover once its removed)
13. Unbolt power steering assembly, 3x 13mm bolts
    1. Move it out of the way
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14. Unbolt AC condenser bolts, 2x 13mm bolts
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15. Remove belt tensioner - 1x 16mm bolt (probably wasn’t needed, but I wanted to clean the cover once its removed)
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16. Remove Timing Cover - (have bucket handy, more coolant will come out)
    1. Remove oil pick up line 1x 13mm bolt (if you didn’t remove it in step 6)
    2. Unplug sensor on top of cover (right above the water pump)
    3. Remove lower radiator hose from timing cover (passenger side)
    4. Unplug sensor behind lower radiator hose
    5. Remove second coolant hose, passenger side, behind where the power steering pump was)
    6. Remove the 4x 15mm bolts & 9x 13mm bolts that are securing the cover.
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17. Line up timing marks on timing gear and sprocket.
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18. Remove Timing gear and chain - bolt, 1x 15mm
19. Remove sprocket - I used a two claw puller for this
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20. Clean off all old gaskets
    1. Oil pan gasket
    2. Timing cover gasket (have fun with this one, I applied some gasket remover, but it still took way too long)
    3. Water pump (if needed)
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lavta3

Reinstall:

1. Install crank shaft sprocket
   1. I gradually heated the sprocket in oven for 20 min
   2. Quickly put the sprocket and it slid on without any issues, except for a hair width or two.
   3. So I made a little tool to push it on the rest of the way
      1. put a 10m - 1.5 treaded rod into crank and using the old sprocket and some washers and nut, it went the last few hairs very easily
2. Install Gear and chain
   1. Making sure that the timing marks on gear, sprocket and chain all still line up.
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3. Put the timing cover gasket in place on the block, and secure by using a little RTV in 4 corners
4. Install the timing cover, be sure that the oil pump lines up with the crank spindle (it will go on easier that way) do not use force
   1. Finger tighten the 13 cover bolts
   2. Finger tighten 2 AC mount bolts
   3. Torque everything to spec
5. Install the new crank shaft oil seal
   1. I used the same tool as mentioned above with a different sized socket to push it into place.
6. Hook up the hoses and sensors that were removed in step 13
7. Install the 2 AC bolts
8. Install water pump with new gasket
9. Install alternator
10. Install power steering pump
11. Install belt tensioner
12. Install Idler
13. Install Oil filter
    1. I fill the oil filter all the way up with oil, and used a rag catch some overspill as I was screwing it on
14. Install Oil pick up line
15. Install oil pan
    1. install the new gasket
    2. install the ?x 10mm bolts, finger tight, then torque them from he center out
16. Install dust shield
17. Fill coolant
    1. Make sure drain bolt on radiator is closed and that all hoses are hooked up
    2. Fill radiator
    3. To help get rid of air pockets, I gently squeezed the lower radiator hose to get the fluid moving
18. Fill oil
    1. make sure oil filter is screwed on, oil pan bolts are torqued and oil drain bolt is torqued
    2. fill engine with oil
19. Install harmonic balancer pulley
    1. I used the same tool as mentioned in step 1 and 5
20. Install serpentine belt
21. Install air box, tube, hose, sensor
22. Hook up battery
23. Start Jeep.
    1. Crank the heat
    2. Keep an eye on oil light
    3. My Oil light went off right away and my heat was working within a minute.

Mr.T

Nice, I like threads like this. How worn was the old timing chain? Mileage?

lavta3

122k miles. Check the video of the chain. I just noticed the resolution on those images sucks, so I'm fixing that right now...

Mr.T

Getting a "This file can't be previewed" error message from Dropbox ???

lavta3

Meh, try this link , not sure what the issue is with dropbox. I also added links to full size pics. I need to remember how to use this forum, its been a while.

Mr.T

Got it

SoK66

Thanks so much for this detailed write-up. Last spring I had to replace the upper oil pan gasket on my '09 JKUR with at that time about 70k miles accumulated. I was surprised to note the amount of slack in the timing chain at such low milage. The engine is making some clattering racket underload (not detonation) and I'm fairly certain chain rattle is what I'm hearing. Great tip on the crank gear installation, BTW. I have looked for the factory crank gear tool in vain, so I will likely use your suggestion.

Edit to add: Once I got the numbers from the FSM I checked Ebay and found the most desirable of the Miller special tools for the crank gear removal & installation. I figured a three jaw puller would get the gear off, but I got the little thrust button the goes in the end of the crank, Miller 5048. Then I got Miller 8452, which is the tool for seating the crank gear, seal and balancer. If all work well I sell them all when done. Amasing parts & tools for the work now. I was able to get the Mopar part number for the cam position sensor paper spacer, it's 5252229AB. I wasn't going to pull the cam sensor, but from a minivan forum I learned the gap is likely to be off when you go back with the front cover, there's too much play in the assembly. One wag said the gap needed is .03", and that he used a cut to size piece from a business card stuck on the end of the sensor with some adhesive.

SoK66

Other than putting my skid plate back on I've got this all wrapped up. Fired it up this AM and all is fine, runs quiet and the rattling racket I was hearing is gone. At only 74500 miles the chain slack on my 3.8L was worse than the OP's video. Engine has had regualr 3k oil changes with either Mobil One or Pennzoil Platinum, never over heated, never run as much as 1/2 qt low on oil. I must thus conclude the chain set was a POS from the get go.

Couple takeaways. Having the factory Miller 8450 thrust button and the Miller 8452 tool set was worth every penny. I got the old crank gear off with a three jaw puller and the 8450. The new crank gear, seal and harmonic balancer all went right on easily with the 8452 tool. Check Ebay. You can resell them later and get your money back. I had some difficulty putting the cover back on as the oil pump wouldn't stay put when I tried to slide it over the crank indexes. Pushing the oil pump gear down all the way finally worked. Also, I managed to tear the cover gasket in one spot when I had to pull the cover back off and try again. I tacked it with some Permatex and it set up fine. I used the FSM recommendation to have the seal on the cover, might be better to tack it onto the block instead. I used Zerex G05 HOAT coolant going back in. It filled very slowy and took just a shade less than 8 quarts of coolant to top up, including the reservoir. The FSM and owners manual say the capacity is 13 qts. I find it hard to believe the system still had 5 qts of coolant in it when I started topping it up. The oil pan will retain about 1/3 qt of oil when you drain it. Leave the drain plug loose and you can drain the remainder into your drain pan. When I drained the coolant I dumped the radiator first, then slowly removed the lower radiator hose and got almost all of it into my coolant dran can before it got on the garage floor. Before I pulled the cover I put two big cat litter pans under the front axle, which caught the majority of the coolant and oil that came out when I pulled it off. The front cover gasket will really stick to the block, as the OP noted. I scored it with an X-Acto blade, then sprayed it with adhesive remover. That did the trick and I was able to remove the stuff with a razor blade in a sticker scraper.

Again many thanks to the OP for his detailed write up. Follow his steps and you can't go wrong.

Mr.T

Thanks to you as well! Any plans to sell those special tools?