Link Belt vs. (Double) Roller Timing Chains

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

My old car’s started making a moderately loud knocking/rattling noise near the harmonic dampener and water pump. It’s not bottom end thankfully, and I’m 99% sure it’s not valve related either. I’m gonna get my stethoscope when the sun’s out, but it looks like I might be replacing a timing set. I thought these were usually life of the engine components, but the engine only has about 100K miles on it. Regardless of what ends up being the issue, I was wondering if you guys had a preference or even a good story influencing your preference in timing chains. Looks like the OEM style, however all metal and no nylon, is $18.99 locally. Double roller is gonna cost me $10 more so I’d rather be cheap, but if someone has a horror story, the extra Hamilton wouldn’t be the end of the world.

 

[bucket]

I prefer roller chain.

Sure it's not the damper ring coming loose from the hub?

 

[Dutch Rutter]

Double roller chain for me. They are cheap enough and known stronger then the standard type. Peace of mind is worth the extra few bucks to me. I've also had a gear on gear type and while it held up and did the job it was pretty noisy.

 

[CorvairGeek]

I did a Japanese made double roller from NAPA at 200k in my LG4. The 2 piece standard (also from NAPA) was so sloppy after 100k (it replaced the nylon wonder and sloppy original chain at 100k) I didn't want a planned job at 300k.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I prefer roller chain.

Sure it's not the damper ring coming loose from the hub?

I wish it was, but it and the pulley spin true, and there’s no cracking or mushrooming (yet). I replaced it exactly two years ago today so it should have around 30K miles, give or take.

I drove it some after letting it warm and the noise did quiet down a fair bit. By the time I had my stethoscope in hand, it was mostly hushed, but I thought I was able to hear a little something on the timing cover. I thought I heard a single pop through the carb a few seconds after a warm start, but I’d need to hear more of that to be certain. It’s been doing this chattery noise for a couple or so seconds right after startup, but it’s erratic kind of like when you get too aggressive with a tetherball, and it goes crazy or the beginning of the song “I Feel for You” by Chaka Khan. I thought it was the disabled EFE valve doing something or at the very worst, a valvetrain issue, but I was never convinced of the latter because it was too loud, too all over the place, and went away quickly. I’ll try to tape anything I can catch in the act and attach.

The oil level’s good and looks like it should about 1500 miles after being changed. The double roller is getting more appealing. I hate having to redo something just to save $10.

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[Poppy 87]

I would find the best quality AMERICAN made double roller timing set and be done with it! Buy once cry once. That's a labor intensive job that I wouldn't skimp out on, kind of like replacement of an oil pump

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[CorvairGeek]

You can turn the crank back and forth and listen to the slop / clank of the chain, since there is no tensioner. May give you a SWAG of how sloppy it really is.
I have anecdotally noticed chains seem to be the noisiest on cool (but above freezing), damp mornings before the engine comes up to temp. Whether there is any scientific reason for that, I don't know.

 

[Paladin]

Cloyes Double Roller timing set and DONE. Spend the extra money now unless you just love to tear your engine down over and over! JMO,but what do I know, I'm old! LOL

 

[Octane]

I use a breaker bar and socket to rotate crank back and forth to see the play in the timing set.My S10 with 300k was fine.My ford 302 at 94k was about to strip...and did.My buddy had a 72 cheyenne and that play seemed okay a few months before the timing set failed and ruined the valves.I have a bad history with timing set fails. Lol. I go with all steel cam gears and good chains since

 

[bucket]

I recently had a cam sprocket fail, it was of the nylon-clad potmetal variety. I put a double roller in it's place.

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[Nonstop]

Just putting this out there - had a ticking noise coming from the front of an older 241 Hemi. Thought it was the chain too. Ended up being the fuel pump. Never heard a noise like that from a fuel pump, but just throwing it out there as one more thing to check before going through all the work or pulling the timing cover, balancer, etc.

 

[Matt69olds]

Remove the distributor cap. Turn the engine slowly backwards until the timing marks line up, then slowly rotate the engine in the normal direction while watching the rotor. If you go too far, make sure you turn the engine far enough to remove all the slack from the chain before trying to line up the marks again. Once you see the rotor start to move, stop and look at the timing marks. If it takes more than about 10 degrees or crank movement I’d say the chain is junk. I don’t recall what the textbook specification for timing chain backlash, but Use your best judgement.


If the timing gear is coated in nylon, and the nylon has flaked off, better plan on removing the oil pan to clean out the oil pump pickup.


My brother had a 65 Impala that had a 327 engine rebuilt by a previous owner sometime in the 80s. It developed a sudden and serious oil leak, turns out the timing chain had worn a hole in the timing cover. Once the chain was replaced, the engine had much more get up and go. That much slope in the chain really messed up the valve timing.

 

[1987 GMC Jimmy]

I got a video of the noise some days ago. I haven’t done anything with it yet, but I’ve only been using it for errands and small stuff. Just to reiterate, the noise is gone when it’s warmed up, and it only happens if it’s sat for a few days or if there was a temperature drop. If the temperature remains somewhat consistent, and I used it that day or the day before, no noise. I’ve listened with the stethoscope to see if it’s coming from the timing cover, heads, valve covers, or the intake area/lifter valley, and I couldn’t pick up anything except a very faint translation of that sound through the intake. And even then, my level of confidence with that is to low to pull the intake off just yet.

Let me know if you recognize this noise, otherwise I’m gonna have to go through randomly and test the chain, and/or pull the valve covers, then go from there.

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[Big Chip]

It sounds like when my last pickup would break an exhaust manifold. The crack would close up when it got warm and noise would go away. Hopefully it’s something simple.

 

[Poppy 87]

It sounds like a possible exhaust leak near the driver's side front

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