Dodge story from Ford guy sounds fishy

[bull]

A few years ago a Ford guy (who thinks all Fords are gold plated diamonds) told me that some of Dodge's older motors would commonly skip teeth on the timing chain. I could see it happening on some engines that were worn out but since I'd never heard of it until then I can't imagine it being common. Ever heard of this?

[Chryco Psycho]

Yes
Mopar use timing chains with plastic teeth , given enough time the plastic / nylon would become brittle & break away allowing the chain to skip a tooth without breaking

[Wakko]

GMs were notorious for that also.

[8WHEELER]

Mopar's big timing gear that bolts to the cam had the plastic / nylon teeth stock, and it did become brittle & break away at a certain point the chain could skip a tooth without breaking and cause problems. But most older cars had the same problem but mopars just had more torque 

Dan

[Ghoste]

Fords never have any problems do they?  Like the C4's that didn't go into reverse on their own?

[8WHEELER]

Fords never have any problems do they?   Like the C4's that didn't go into reverse on their own?

Ever worked on a FMX Ford trans?? MAJOR POS!!!!!  some 67 & 68 Ford's had them, had to rebiuld two of them 

Dan

[bull]

Do any of the modern Mopars use the same nylon tooth setup?

[hemigeno]

I had that happen to me with the 1966-vintage 426H that came with my '69.   At first, I could not for the LIFE of me figure out what caused that engine to begin running like crap.   Hadn't changed any of the tuneup settings, but when I eventually checked the timing it was way off.   When I reset the timing,the vacuum advance can was oriented differently.

That simple discovery was made after I had pulled the valve covers and checked the pushrods for straightness, reset the valve lash, checked each rocker arm's travel with a dial indicator to see if the cam was worn, checked compression, etc. etc.     

[RD]

Yes
Mopar use timing chains with plastic teeth , given enough time the plastic / nylon would become brittle & break away allowing the chain to skip a tooth without breaking

i believe the mid to late 70's and 80's had that style of timing gear.  i know a '76 400 i rebuilt had that style of timing gear. not in it now of course 

[andy74]

tell him that fords suck,and spit in his eyes...................just kidding,but all amkes have had there own indivdual ups and downs,and i seem to recall a lot more fords on the lists!

[Charger_Fan]

Fords used nylon teeth on the cam gear too...for sure from the early 70's into the 80's. Pretty sure all the big 3 did at one point or another.

I read somewhere that it was to make the timing chain quieter...I thought it was probably more like make the engines only last until they were just out of warranty, so you would buy a new car.

[BigBlockSam]

i'm rebuilding a 1973 440. when i took the pan off, i found alot of hard plastic chunks in it. it was from the timing gears. i thought only pontiacs did that. happen to my old gto. Rene

[beenaround]

common common common people.in the old days that is the 70's for most of you !plastic timing gears were used by every car company to keep the noise level down.i could change a la block chain in one and a half hours!and that was with air con.i saw timing gears go at 30k miles.now for anyone who has an old untouched motor this is what we used to do.we would replace the timing gears and chain,replace the valve seals as they would harden up and crack causing exsessive oil smoke on start up,and we would remove the intake manifold to blast out the "coke" that clogged the heat passage under the carb.now the heat passage would clog because the heat riser valve would either stick open or just rot away.these problems were common in the small blocks, but the big blocks could have the same problems.and of course all that nylon gear teeth and valve seal material can wind up in the oil pan and clog your oil pump.so along with the above advice drop the pan and clean it and the oil pickup out!

[BigBlockSam]

drop the pan and clean it and the oil pickup out! 

[twilt]

ask this phord guy about variable venturi carburetors. 

[Ghoste]

Or fuel tanks that function as trunk floors.