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Compared timing chain jobs on a Honda K24 vs a Ford 5.4 Triton and man what a difference
Last month I did a K24 timing chain in my buddy's driveway. Took like 4 hours start to finish, everything lined up perfect, even the VTC actuator was easy to get to. Then this week a guy rolls in with a 5.4 Triton that snapped a chain and I wanted to cry. Had to pull the whole front of the motor off, fight with those stupid plastic guides that were crumbled into a thousand pieces, and the tensioner spring went flying somewhere into the engine bay. Still haven't found it. Same job basically but one is like changing a tire and the other is like building a ship in a bottle. Anyone else run into two similar jobs that were totally different levels of pain?
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rosebarnes2mo ago
Oh man, that zip tie trick is NOT foolproof. I watched a buddy do that on a 5.4 and it slipped just enough that the tensioner went sideways and locked the whole thing up. Had to pull the timing cover again after he thought he was done. Real question though - when you've done a few of these, do you replace the cam phaser locking pin with anything or just send it? I've heard different things about whether you can reuse the factory one or if you need a special tool.
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richard_anderson2mo ago
Hold on, is it really that serious? I've done a few 5.4 timing jobs and yeah the plastic guides are junk but once you've done one they're all the same headache. You just gotta zip tie the tensioner before you pull it and you don't lose the spring.
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Zip tie trick works until it doesn't. You've been lucky so far @richard_anderson, that's all I'm saying.
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