Bad timing chain ?

[xxxhemi]

anyone know of a way to find out if a timing chain or gears is bad without tearing the front of the engine apart? My son just picked up a 73 duster orig 318
59000 miles on the odometer I think it has turned over once..... he put new plugs in it and it has been running fine for a couple days, he went out and started it after work and it has a idle miss .I pulled all the plugs and they look fine,and i checked the timing and its fine. when he drives it he said its pinging now that its running bad.

 

[GoodysGotaCuda]

could have jumped a tooth maybe. If its that old, i wouldnt even wait to change it. My 72, and afaik 73s as well had NYLON tooth timing gears. Which yes, is very stupid, is also very annoying once the chain 'goes'. My chain 'went' and i just bought a new oil pump pickup because of all the nylon chunks that were sucked up in it, so if its a concern and its still running? Pull that thing out, or you'll be pulling the pan and picking nylon chips out for days whenever the chain goes.

just my .02cents

 

[OUTLAW]

a kwik check to see if the chain is stretched is to grab the harmonic balancer and turn it to see how much movement you have in it (free play ) more than a couple of degrees ( watch your timing marks ) is too much

 

[340mopar]

a kwik check to see if the chain is stretched is to grab the harmonic balancer and turn it to see how much movement you have in it (free play ) more than a couple of degrees ( watch your timing marks ) is too much

Take of your distributor cap and view the rotor while you do this. If the rotor does not move but the crank does, change your timing set.