Need help removing timing gear cover 2.9L V6

[88rangr]

Hello fellow Ranger owners,

I am replacing my water pump and while in there, I want to replace the gear and chain set.

All the bolts off and balancer off, is there a trick to get the cover off?

1988 Ford Ranger 2.9L V-6 with 230,000 original miles, no rebuild yet!

Thanks all!

Larry

 

[jhammel85]

Not that I'm aware of. Is it catching on the pan? It says to remove it BUT it's not necessary. Just make sure you can pull it straight out.

Is your cover off and caught on something or is it just stuck in place? If it's stuck in place, pry it off genty and it should come along..

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Yea it is probably just glued on good once you get it to break loose it should pull straight out.

 

[88rangr]

Ok, I will try to pry it a bit on the top and side, I see the two studs where I took the nuts off from. Will get back with pictures too

 

[88rangr]

Pictures of Ranger work

 

[jhammel85]

I thought you had the balancer off? That has to come off in order to get the cover off. It slides forward.

Nothing better than shiney new parts!

 

[88rangr]

Yes, it is off, these are the pics along the way, just can't seem to get the cover to budge, all bolts that I can see are off, including the pan bolts and two nuts

 

[88rangr]

Cover pic

 

[88rangr]

See anything I may be missing?

 

[huh?]

alternator bracket bolt, power steering pump bracket may be hiding a couple of bolts, and/or maybe one of the bolts for the timing pointer may run through the cover to the block. i think i needed to remove the alternator and a/c-p/s brackets to get the cover off.

i took mine off a few months ago because the front seal was dumping oil like the seal was non-existent(the seal was as hard as a rock). i suppose the mental/emotional trauma i experienced while doing it blocked most of the details from memory. i do remember that unless you loosen up the oil pan so it drops just a wee bit, the installation of the cover was almost impossible without knocking the seal(between the pan and housing) out of place so i ended up gluing it and the gaskets in place. there is a part of the block casting that blocks the top of the housing from being angled into place, i think the part where the thermostat housing bolts on, that screwed with the ease of installation for me. also if the crank seal is going to be changed, it might be better to remove old one while cover is off but install new one after cover is replaced. might give some wiggle room.

what i erroneously(as usual) thought would be a 3 or so hour job took way longer and the seal i needed to change got lost in the process. spent a couple of hours looking for it knowing i wouldn't find it till too late. i ended up siliconing the snot out of it and putting it back together. as soon as i tightened the last bolt and slid out from under the truck i found the new seal sitting right there on the ground under the radiator support....good times!!!!!!.....NOT!!

 

[88rangr]

Thanks, nothing behind those brackets, I will take those pointer bolts out, they may only be in the case, but who knows!

 

[huh?]

went out a while ago to take a look and could see the holes in my timing cover are threaded for that pointer. so not a solution. heh. yeah, it was about 9pm or so as i was closing up that job so some non-essential stuff are still sitting on my work bench.

i also remembered those studs at the bottom of the cover running through the pan can be unscrewed and removed. now i remember having them off. it allowed me to slide the cover back on in a more vertical position as opposed to placing the bottom in first then swinging the top into place and having to deal with the top being blocked by the thermostat housing mounting area.

 

[88rangr]

I am taking off the pan bolts, do you really think I have to raise the engine to get the bolts off right at the mounts? Making progress, after work!

Thanks for replying and trying to help with this project!

 

[huh?]

i needed to loosen my oil pan bolts to get clearance for the timing cover because i had already installed the crankshaft seal while the cover was off the engine. if i had waited till after the cover was installed to install the crankshaft seal i believe a lot of my frustration would have been avoided.

i didn't actually remove the oil pan bolts, i loosened them in a fashion that is recommended to empty transmission fluid from automatic transmissions with no drain hole/plug. the bolts at front of engine turned out almost all the way and the bolts at the back loosened just enough to let pan tilt open. i didn't raise the engine but i did employ some yoga positions such as "arthritic fingers", "charlie-horse forearm" and "1/12th turn flip open end 1/12th turn flip open end". it just may be that i might have saved time by lifting the engine.

edit: please keep in mind that my repair was only replacing the half circle seal between the oil pan and the timing cover and as i was flipping through my haynes' manual it said(i think) if you are going to replace timing chain/gears that oil pan would need to drop, so potentially every word i posted may be moot to your situation and most likely should be used as a guide of things that may help or should be avoided. <<<<<<HA! they don't call me the run-on king because i race in marathons.

 

[88rangr]

Will get try and get the last ones out, may replace the pan gasket while I have this at least down a bit. Still can't budge the cover, not sure where it is safe to pry on.