timing chain tensioner

I'm reassembling my motor after having a severely warped head and when I tried to attach my timing chain and sprocket to the camshaft I found the chain was too tight. I figured out how to loosen the chain but cannot get it to tighten back up. It is a 1993 b2600i 4x4 with a horizontal plunger type tensioner. The repair manual does not help any.

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This is the tensioner I am talking about.

You might have a broken spring in your tensioner... or maybe it's gummed up.

How does it work though? Do I have to pull back on the lock to make it tension? Or does it automatically tighten? It is tight but not as tight as to spec I dont think. What is the process to tighten it?

You will need to use a vise to drive the tensioner ram back into the body of the tensioner. Then you put the rod in to hold the ram back while you install the tensioner back onto the truck. Once the tensioner is reinstalled, you pull the rod and that should tighten everything beck up.

Hope that helps.

Did you take the tension offer, or just let the plunger and spring come out? If the latter, you should be able to feed the spring and plunger back in. It's a little tedious, but can be done. With the chain in place, the spring should keep some tension on the plunger (and therefore the chain) but not pop out. Once the engine is running, you will have oil pressure on that plunger.

No I pushed back the lock and I had a tension on the chain so when I pushed the lock it gave me the slack I needed. I put everything together and rotated the motor over a couple times and pushed on the guide to take up slack. I think when I reassemble the motor the oil pressure will bring it back tight. Thanks for all the help, that was the information I was looking for.

I installed a Felpro head gasket and was curious if I had to retorque the head with these particular gaskets?