Changing the timing chain on a friend's 94 22re. Things were going well until we turn the crank after putting the cover on and were met with resistance- little more force behind it and SNAP- sent 2 crankshaft sprocket teeth into the crankcase.

So we trade in our broken timing set for a new one, install it, put the cover on and spin - spins like a dream. We went about putting the rest of the motor back together, then place the damper on. As we torqued the damper down we were again met with resistance; expecting that we should be getting resistance since we're trying to tighten it down to 116 lb/ft, so we pressed on, and sent 2 more crankshaft sprocket teeth to an oily grave into the crankcase.

Is there a specific spacing between the crankshaft pulley and the block, or any other means of verifying vertical alignment between the two sprockets? Really very curious as to what we're missing here.

 

did you buy the right timing set? 2 types of 22r blocks. pre 84 and post 84.

 

We got the set for a 94 truck.

Is there a spec for the gap between the crank sprocket and block? Should there be a spacer? The second set was fine until I torqued down the balancer; I suspect that pushed the crank sprocket further in and since these chains have very little lateral flex, they would have very little tolerance to bring misaligned...

 

do you have the right timing cover? a thicker cover will do what you said.

 

It's the stock cover and oil pump.

 

factory sprocket?

 

Not factory sprocket, new sprockets. Turns out the crank sprocket was on backwards. That allowed the crank pulley and oil pump drive sleeve to push the crank sprocket out of alignment with the cam sprocket and the chain basically crushed the teeth as it unseated itself.

The new sprockets were cast, and to be honest, they looked like pot metal inside. They were "high performance" according to O'Reilly, but junk as far as I'm concerned. Breaking it took about as much force turning the crank as would be expected if the plugs were out and the valves were properly lashed.

 

good you figured it out. i would order from rockauto. better quality choices.