I was closely following the thread from @John Strenk when he did his timing chain as I had planned to mimic the same job on my '85. Let me just say that I hope to never do it again, but if I have to for any reason, at least the gaskets are all new and the HOURS of cleaning (more on this) I had to do, won't be required.
I have no idea how many miles I have on my '85 as the speedometer was not functioning when I acquired the Jeep mid last year, what displayed on the speedometer was around 96,000 miles give or take. A simple speedometer cable fixed the issue, but I could tell that it had been broken for a long time. Everything about this Jeep has been neglected by the previous owner who claimed to never drive the Jeep, but he also didn't spend a dime on it for the 10 years he owned it. I have been going through everything mechanical to get it working right and to eliminate all of the leaks, or at least get it under control.
When I did the valve cover, I was finally able to have a peek of the engine internals and it was not great. Lots and lots of carbon buildup, also from neglect, but I am lucky that my Jeep doesn't burn any oil, doesn't smoke, and it has great compression. Recently as some may have remembered, I converted my '85 to fuel injection with Howell's kit but a timing issue continued to plague me to which I attributed it to a stretched timing chain (presumably). Everything I do to this CJ requires 3x's the time as it fights me in everything I do, or maybe it's just me being a perfectionist being my biggest demise. I had a really bad rear main seal leak, oil pan gasket leak from the side of the block, a semi wobbly harmonic balancer and oil pressure fluctuations, albeit the oil pressure was within spec, but I wanted to replace the oil pump since I am going to be there.
Being that I wanted to the best parts for my CJ, I opted for:
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Pulley off, here's the factory balancer.
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Balancer was on tight!
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Back side of balancer. Not the worst I've seen but the rubber is split.
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Timing cover off. So...much...carbon.
The inside surface of the oil pan looked identical to the timing cover.😕
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Par for the course, my chain was so sloppy that it was wearing into the timing cover. Folks, check your chain!
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Took me about an hour worth of scrubbing and chipping away at the carbon bits to get to this.
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I didn't get any pictures of the oil pan, but it was by far one of the worst I have ever dealt with. Took me about 2 hours to get it off. What eventually worked was using a semi-rigid putty knife and a hammer to get between the block and the pan. Here's the bottom of the engine with the pan off. I was so aggravated and heated that I didn't get more pictures. Lots of varnish.
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I don't know what the hell this stuff is, or if it's just due to age, but the gasket material was a hard as a rock. I had to use an angle grinder with a wire brush attachment to get it off the oil pan. For the block, I had to use a chisel and a heavy hammer. I took care not to gouge the block.
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Rear main bearing cap is off. I was glad to see the oil seal surface not grooved. The main journal felt smooth with no discernible scratches. Does look hazy though, right? Getting the upper seal our was a NIGHTMARE! Took about 2 hours of careful tapping with a brass punch along with loosening 3 additional bearing caps. Once it started to move, it was a piece of cake to get it out. The rear main seal was as hard as a rock, there was absolutely no pliability to it. Sorry, no pictures.
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Not happy to see, but there are scratches in the main bearing. At least it's not into the copper. The darkness is just dirty oil.
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Oil pump off. Visible wear. Glad I am replacing it. Looks to me like the factory oil pump body was aluminum? I noticed many bits of carbon from the oil pan and timing cover in the pickup tube. You can see the bits right above the oil pump plate.
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Timing cover painted. Lame attempt to paint the timing marks with silver paint. 🤣
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Using the steel bar method to hold up the engine from @keith460
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Rear main seal went in without any issues and the little plastic piece Felpro includes worked great. Here is the main cap installed.
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New oil pump in. I decided to go with a non-high volume pump as I have heard there has been some clearance problems. I didn't want to risk it and my oil pressure wasn't critical going into this project.
![Image]()
Finally!!! The timing set is in. This picture was taken after I rotated the engine some, which is why the timing marks are not aligned. The chain is tight, but not so tight that I was concerned. It just slipped on perfect and everything aligned perfect. Don't worry, I didn't forget the cam spring and plunger.
![Image]()
I have no idea how many miles I have on my '85 as the speedometer was not functioning when I acquired the Jeep mid last year, what displayed on the speedometer was around 96,000 miles give or take. A simple speedometer cable fixed the issue, but I could tell that it had been broken for a long time. Everything about this Jeep has been neglected by the previous owner who claimed to never drive the Jeep, but he also didn't spend a dime on it for the 10 years he owned it. I have been going through everything mechanical to get it working right and to eliminate all of the leaks, or at least get it under control.
When I did the valve cover, I was finally able to have a peek of the engine internals and it was not great. Lots and lots of carbon buildup, also from neglect, but I am lucky that my Jeep doesn't burn any oil, doesn't smoke, and it has great compression. Recently as some may have remembered, I converted my '85 to fuel injection with Howell's kit but a timing issue continued to plague me to which I attributed it to a stretched timing chain (presumably). Everything I do to this CJ requires 3x's the time as it fights me in everything I do, or maybe it's just me being a perfectionist being my biggest demise. I had a really bad rear main seal leak, oil pan gasket leak from the side of the block, a semi wobbly harmonic balancer and oil pressure fluctuations, albeit the oil pressure was within spec, but I wanted to replace the oil pump since I am going to be there.
Being that I wanted to the best parts for my CJ, I opted for:
- Cloyes double roller timing chain
- Felpro one piece rubber oil pan gasket
- Felpro rear main seal
- Melling oil pump (non high volume)
- Melling oil strainer
- Victor Reinz timing cover gasket & oil seal
- Dayco Harmonic Balancer
Pulley off, here's the factory balancer.
Balancer was on tight!
Back side of balancer. Not the worst I've seen but the rubber is split.
Timing cover off. So...much...carbon.
The inside surface of the oil pan looked identical to the timing cover.😕 
Par for the course, my chain was so sloppy that it was wearing into the timing cover. Folks, check your chain!
Took me about an hour worth of scrubbing and chipping away at the carbon bits to get to this.
I didn't get any pictures of the oil pan, but it was by far one of the worst I have ever dealt with. Took me about 2 hours to get it off. What eventually worked was using a semi-rigid putty knife and a hammer to get between the block and the pan. Here's the bottom of the engine with the pan off. I was so aggravated and heated that I didn't get more pictures. Lots of varnish.
I don't know what the hell this stuff is, or if it's just due to age, but the gasket material was a hard as a rock. I had to use an angle grinder with a wire brush attachment to get it off the oil pan. For the block, I had to use a chisel and a heavy hammer. I took care not to gouge the block.
Rear main bearing cap is off. I was glad to see the oil seal surface not grooved. The main journal felt smooth with no discernible scratches. Does look hazy though, right? Getting the upper seal our was a NIGHTMARE! Took about 2 hours of careful tapping with a brass punch along with loosening 3 additional bearing caps. Once it started to move, it was a piece of cake to get it out. The rear main seal was as hard as a rock, there was absolutely no pliability to it. Sorry, no pictures.
Not happy to see, but there are scratches in the main bearing. At least it's not into the copper. The darkness is just dirty oil.
Oil pump off. Visible wear. Glad I am replacing it. Looks to me like the factory oil pump body was aluminum? I noticed many bits of carbon from the oil pan and timing cover in the pickup tube. You can see the bits right above the oil pump plate.
Timing cover painted. Lame attempt to paint the timing marks with silver paint. 🤣
Using the steel bar method to hold up the engine from @keith460
Rear main seal went in without any issues and the little plastic piece Felpro includes worked great. Here is the main cap installed.
New oil pump in. I decided to go with a non-high volume pump as I have heard there has been some clearance problems. I didn't want to risk it and my oil pressure wasn't critical going into this project.
Finally!!! The timing set is in. This picture was taken after I rotated the engine some, which is why the timing marks are not aligned. The chain is tight, but not so tight that I was concerned. It just slipped on perfect and everything aligned perfect. Don't worry, I didn't forget the cam spring and plunger.
