Finally gave in and tried the zip-tie timing trick on a 6.7 Powerstroke

I spent 3 hours fighting with that stupid HPFP gear alignment last Tuesday before I remembered a guy at the Iowa diesel show swearing by zip-tying the chain to the sprocket before removal, and it lined up perfect on the first try. Has anyone else found a weird shortcut that actually works better than the manual says?

3 comments

3 Comments

harper9141mo ago

The manual exists for a reason, and zip-ties are just introducing a point of failure on something that holds your HPFP timing together. I'll stick with the factory alignment tool and an extra 20 minutes of work over trusting a piece of plastic with a $3000 pump.

mianelson1mo ago

Idk, zip ties have held my timing just fine for years without issues.

michael_green441mo ago

Man I don't get why everyone's so dramatic about this! Yeah sure the manual says use the tool but like, how many of us have actually had a zip tie snap on a running engine? I've seen guys run zip ties on their timing for years without a hiccup too. I'm with @mianelson on this, it's not like you're building a spaceship here, it's just a pump that needs to be roughly in time to run right. And that $3000 pump fear, come on, if you're that worried just check it with a multimeter or something after you tighten everything down. Real world results matter more than some theoretical plastic breaking scenario in my book.