Gear Drive Install Help

[cschneider]

I am in the middle of putting in a gear drive on my 6.5 599 block and need some help. I have taken the old chain gear off but the directions as to how you align the timing marks is fairly sparse and I seem to have stumbled into an area that I am not as familiar with as I'd like to be. Has anyone done this install that can walk me through it? I would really appreciate any help I can get. Thanks in advance.

[britannic]

If your gears are installed with the timing dot facing outward and you didn't disturb the original timing relationship between the camshaft and the crank, then proceed as follows:

With the crankshaft at TDC, the timing mark on the bottom gear is set at 12 o'clock and the camshaft gear at 6 o'clock. Once this is set, then you can rotate crankshaft to bring the camshaft gear to 12 o'clock and then set the injection pump gear to 6 o'clock.

I would recommend checking with your supplier to see if these instructions still apply, as mine are about 6 years old now.

[cschneider]

Britannic I knew you would be the first to reply on this one. Unfortunately I have the crank at TDC but the cam is at 12 o clock as well and I think I really have things screwed up and have gotten in a little over my head. The thing is that the cam spins opposite with a gear drive correct? So that has me screwed up too. The DSG instructions are anything but helpful and the factory shop manual in typical fashion simply says "align timing marks." I don't want to bend a valve or something doing this wrong, so I'm tempted to take it in somewhere. Let me know what you think. Thanks

[catmandoo]

the crank is at the top or tdc and cam is at 12 if you rotate the crank one revolution then the crank will still be on top and the cam will now be at 6 so it should be ok.

[britannic]

Don't worry, the idler gears (the two small ones) are there to stop the cam spinning the wrong way and destroying your pistons, valves and whatever else ;) . Otherwise your injection pump would spin backwards too and do nothing!!!

Just follow the Haynes/Chilton/etc. manual and set the cam and crank as though you were installing the chain drive (if you're really stuck, then you could temporarily reinstall the chain gears) and then have another go with the gear drive.

[cschneider]

Got off the phone with Paul at Diesel Auto Services at about 6:00 and had solved the problem. It was actually a lot easier than I thought. I was thinking way too much and just needed a little encouragement to do the right thing. Anyway the drive is on and I'll be putting the timing cover on tomorrow. Thanks for the timely response. When I get this thing finally running maybe we can get some of the northern california guys together for lunch in Tahoe or something. I'm in the east bay and I think rustypig is a little bit up 80; just a thought anyways. Thanks again.

[britannic]

Glad you got it sorted out! We wouldn't need to go as far as Tahoe, how about somewhere between Auburn and Sacramento?

[ 08-12-2003, 08:33 AM: Message edited by: britannic ]