Beside poor performance...Would slipped timing cause hard starting or low smoke output??

 

Yes, usually accompanied with white smoke.

 

It should have gear drive timing. Isn't that hard to slip? Maybe there an IP issue?

 

it is gear driven, but the pump gear is not keyed to the cam in the pump (pump shaft in the front cover) so it can and does occasionally slip...when mine slipped i had to hold the throttle on hard to get it to start, and when it fired up it smoked white smoke like crazy

...another way to tell if it is getting off timing is to rev the engine from an idle...when mine was slightly off it had a dead miss or missfire at 2k-2200 rpm and only while revving it with no load...once i reset my timing to 0 it was fine

 

It's actually quite easy and common to slip since there is no key-way on the pump.

 

THanks guys....I was also trying to help another guy with starting problems...He found it was his LP.I have to time my truck because I just install a rebuilt IP.Just noticed that ,YES,the power is down,but notice that I'm not getting much black smoke when I stomp on it.The fuel plate is full forward and also the star is full forward also..I'm thinking the timing is way out that reduced the amount of smoke.But yet the truck fires up with no problem

 

One little trick I learned from cummins mech here was to spray brake parts cleaner on the pump shaft and the mating surface of the gear before putting them back together, Sure does a good job at cleaning the oil film off of the gear and shaft and can really help eliminate timing slip.