Compared timing chain jobs on a Honda K24 vs a Ford 5.4 Triton and man what a difference

Last month I did a K24 timing chain in my buddy's driveway. Took like 4 hours start to finish, everything lined up perfect, even the VTC actuator was easy to get to. Then this week a guy rolls in with a 5.4 Triton that snapped a chain and I wanted to cry. Had to pull the whole front of the motor off, fight with those stupid plastic guides that were crumbled into a thousand pieces, and the tensioner spring went flying somewhere into the engine bay. Still haven't found it. Same job basically but one is like changing a tire and the other is like building a ship in a bottle. Anyone else run into two similar jobs that were totally different levels of pain?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_anderson5d ago

Hold on, is it really that serious? I've done a few 5.4 timing jobs and yeah the plastic guides are junk but once you've done one they're all the same headache. You just gotta zip tie the tensioner before you pull it and you don't lose the spring.

taylor_miller105d agoOG Member

Zip tie trick works until it doesn't. You've been lucky so far @richard_anderson, that's all I'm saying.