Strange sound, timing chain?

My 97 has the spring and snubber...the spring rides on the timing cover.

You've got the thrust plate...no timing cover contact.

This thread reminds me I should order a new snubber to have on hand if I take it apart again.

-Mac

Like the spring and pin touch the plate? Is there no bolt holding it in? Just trying to visualize this.
 
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The back side of that pulley looks shiny, is it?

Look from the top where the pulley is right up against the timing chain cover.

this! it looks like that back side is rubbing on something and it has a machined look that is clearly wearing. Easy to spot with all the gunk on the rest of the assembly.
 
The spring loaded pin pushes against that dimple in the timing cover.

Ohhhhhhh, good good. The videos I watched were wrong, they were saying there was a pin and spring BEHIND the bolt, which made zero sense.

this! it looks like that back side is rubbing on something and it has a machined look that is clearly wearing. Easy to spot with all the gunk on the rest of the assembly.

Oh it's scored to heck and back. We ended up replacing the TC anyways; besides the scoring from the balancer that seal was pretty much fused. I'm going to try to pop it out and have it as a spare, but not holding my breath. New one is nice and shiny, anyways 😁

We should be able to wrap it all up tomorrow.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what that washer between the crankshaft and TC is called? It's cone-shaped. The current one seems fine, but I always like replacing little things like that, but I can't figure out what it's called. Crawled through RockAuto under anything timing- or camshaft-related, but didn't see a single thing.
 
A seal puller will easily remove the old seal.
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That washer is called an oil slinger. No need for a new one.
 
Also, when we put the balancer back on it looks like it's so close to the TC that it's going to rub. You can barely fit a fingernail there at the top. . We're going to pull it back off tomorrow to make sure everything is properly seated, but is it supposed to be near rubbing the case? We tightened the TC bolts pretty snug but we don't want to crank them down and strip anything.
 
Yes, it should be very close to the cover.

I've heard that at some point they quit putting the slinger on them, but I don't know that for a fact. My YJ has one.
 
Possible the gasket is too thick. You could just use RTV.

Possible too the crank pulley is incorrect. I suspect mine it off by a bit after my Rubicon belt snafu.

Invest in a 1/4 inch torque wrench. Tekton makes an affordable one. Inch pounds!

-Mac
 
Possible the gasket is too thick. You could just use RTV.

Possible too the crank pulley is incorrect. I suspect mine it off by a bit after my Rubicon belt snafu.

Invest in a 1/4 inch torque wrench. Tekton makes an affordable one. Inch pounds!

-Mac

Okay. Just used the felpro gasket with rtv at the bottom (per the instructions), might give that a shot.

Hadn't thought of that. I'll compare it to the old one when we pull it back off, I do have some calipers, could check it over. I'm going to check the TC as well, not sure if they make them in different sizes but no big deal to measure. Just don't want to get it all together and have this one grinding the case as well.

Shoot, I need a regular torque wrench as well. The one I bought from Harbor Freight broke.

I swear, it's not the job itself that takes so long, it's all the piddly things that come up along the way.
 
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The only test I'd trust a HF torque wrench to accomplish is terminal velocity.

I'm very happy with my Gear Wrench, old school Craftsman and Tekton torque wrenches. You'd think you wouldn't need four...

-Mac
 
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We got it all buttoned back together again. Haven't driven it yet, but when you pull the accelerator it's very responsive. The noise is totally gone. I appreciate the help, everyone!

Strangely, the misfire is still there with no appreciable change in frequency or intensity. With the amount of slop in that timing chain you would have bet money on that being the cause.

The only thing of note, when we first started the Jeep it was idling high (1500 or so) and settling in, and I would swear I didn't hear the miss for about a minute. Not sure if that means anything, but it was curious.