Blown Headgasket.. how to loosen time chain

[Worktruck]

I have a 87 ram 50. Discovered water and oil mix.. trying to do the work myself. I have remove extra but basically stuck at trying to figure out how to loosen the timing chain without pull the front cover.. and is there any advice on dos and don'ts when taking head off? Thanks

[Pengineer1]

If your motor is aG54b as mine is you should be able to unveil the sprocket from the cam and keep the chain on the sprocket. There'll be a little bracket to keep the sprocket from falling and I was able to remove this to gain more space but it's pretty tricky to remove and reinstall without dropping stuff down into the timing cover

[Pengineer1]

Unveil is supposed to say unbolt.

[Worktruck]

Thanks . I will try that. Any advice on how to remove the bracket?

[Pengineer1]

I ground down a little 1/4" drive socket.

[GodRamIt]

Head slips over the chain and sprocket. Easiest head removal I ever done.

[camoit]

You leave the bracket that is under the cam gear. It you take the chain loose you will need to pull apart the front cover to fix the chain tensioner. The cam gear just sits on the bracket with the chain on it.