Timing chain drip leg?

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ValiantOne

ValiantOne

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I keep reading about a drip pointer/leg for the timing chain in LA motors. My 273 didn't have one. It does have a slinger. Am I missing something, or did some engines come sans a pointer?


Thanks

CE
 
Both my 318 and 360 had the oil drip tab but not the slinger. I ended up running both a slinger and the drip leg on my 360.
 
Jake's 360 had both, but didn't have the hollowed out bolt to allow the oil to drip thru from the galley and down the tab.
 
This varied over the years. Go to MyMopar and download a few shop manuals. Some of those came from the guys on here.
 
Generally, if they have the drip tab, they are also supposed to have the drilled through bolt. I've seen people put the drip tab in and not drill the bolt, but that's worthless, since the drilled bolt is where the drip tab's oil comes from. lol
 
And that is exactly why we drilled Jake's bolt..... I found it odd that the motor had never been apart, had the drip tab, but had the wrong bolt. Motor is a 74.
 
It's unusual Chrysler would assemble them like that, but I agree with you. I think they did. That's a great little mod to do as it works very well.
 
So it isn't odd to have a slinger and no drip tab? How does oil get to the slinger? Is it through the two holes into the lifter valley?

Thanks,
 
The slinger is not for oiling per se, but just to block excess oil from reaching the front oil seal; the seal can manage only so much oil. It should have come in all engines.
 
I think it comes from the pan area. off the front main cap.
 
ValiantOne said:
So it isn't odd to have a slinger and no drip tab? How does oil get to the slinger? Is it through the two holes into the lifter valley?

Thanks,
Click to expand...

I always thought his too about the drip tab. The two hole in the lifter valley feed it. When I had my motor apart the chain was well oiled with no hole in bolt, a drip tab and the slinger. I also had the magnum tensioner installed. I have yet to put things back together so it would be good to know.
 
I dont think you are going to get much oil thru those two holes. engine is angled the wrong way, to the rear. Oil goes the wrong way.
 
Mopar Tim said:
I dont think you are going to get much oil thru those two holes. engine is angled the wrong way, to the rear. Oil goes the wrong way.
Click to expand...

But the motor isn't balanced to a gyroscope, so it will tilt, tip, duck, dodge and dive with the car, plus wouldn't there be a spraying effect from moving parts that would throw oil?
 
Mopar Tim said:
I think it comes from the pan area. off the front main cap.
Click to expand...

That kind of makes sense. I could see how oil coming from the main bearing clearance could get to the slinger to be slung up on the gear and chain.

I would like to know definitively though as some cars obviously don't have the bolt hole/drip tab.
 
the early engines had a top bolt drilled thru on the side that the oil would flow, without a drip tab, like my 1970 virgin 340. later, to save money, mopar used only 3 bolts and a drip tab, skipping the bolt where the oil would flow
 
Lots of engines get the chain oiled simply by the oil out of the front main bearing, wicking along the crank snout, up the crank sprocket, and onto the chain. The chain and sprockets that came out of our used 273 looked to be fine, and it had neither the drip tab or any hole in the bolt.

FWIW, the best designs I have seen are those that have oil pressure actuated tensioners; the tensioner piston will have a small hole to push oil through a matching hole through the tension block to oil the chain directly.
 
Early, about 64-67, LA engines had neither the drip tab nor the drilled thrust plate bolt but had a cast Iron cam gear. I have never seen the drip tab and the drilled thrust plate bolt together. I have only seen the the drilled thrust plate bolt on double roller setup, 340 and HP 360's. About 68 they started using the nylon covered aluminum cam gear.
 
#1 cam bearing area dumps oil out the front and drips down on the pointer. Cam gear and crank gear also slings it everywhere.
 
krazykuda said:
Some came without a "pointer, and can live without it, just be sure to keep the pass upper hole for the camshaft thrust plate open for oiling, whether you use the one with the hole, or just leave that one out...

You can add it if you wish...

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=287231
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Wish I'd found that thread when I was using the search function.

Well I don't know if my bolt had the hole or not, but the engine is buttoned up the way it came from the factory so I guess we'll see what happens!
 
ValiantOne said:
Wish I'd found that thread when I was using the search function.

Well I don't know if my bolt had the hole or not, but the engine is buttoned up the way it came from the factory so I guess we'll see what happens!
Click to expand...


It's in the How-to article forum with a link at the top of the banner.

You may want to mouse around in there for some more info that you may need...
 
I'm almost certain that at the very minimum there is a oil slinger in front of the crank gear. They likely discovered that in some industrial applications where the engine would idle at low RPM for extended periods, the slinger alone wasn't sufficient.
Just for the sake of sharing what I've seen, wear out a 318 that had the drilled through bolt at the cam plate. Since the hole is a good 1/4 inch above the floor behind it, you could find a spoon full of metal wear material collected there.
 
hydraulic tensioners work well, but thy have no tension at startup, if you have a backfire on start or it kicks back, you are at the mercy of the chain itself with no tensioner, and sometimes these are flacid with no oil pressure and can cause a jump. My Honda was notoriou for doing that (bad carb and a very long chain). My mazda had a nice ratchet tensioner, it just kept getting tighter when it wore itself. My Breeze had one like that too but it was sort of a toothed cam that unwound a lobe. The MP tensioner and drip tab will work forever.
 
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