'87 300 SDL

Well, I don't know why this isn't the piece of cake that I was told it would be...?!?! ...word of mouth, and the MM implies that the timing chain just feeds right in as you rotate the crank.

All injectors are out. I started at TDC on the crank, and both alignment marks at cam were dead on. ...removed Chain Tensioner. I spit the chain at the at the alignmet marks.

The chain did slip from my claws on the aft side(exit), ...retrieved it and slipped right back on the chain where it had been. Then, the forward RH (CW) slipped in also, ..was retrieved and it fell right back in it's place. I locked both ends of the chain in place and attached the new chain as suggested for it to be fed in, and began rotating the crank cw... Aghhh!! Then rotation stopped!
I backed it off a bit, attempted it again, and it stopped in the same place. I then backed it off a bit more than the previous time, and had the same results with the crank stopping in the same place! ughh... I rotated the cam drive back and forth in small increments to see if it had excessive pre-load. Nope. The crank continues to stop in the same spot.

Now, my million dollar question??? What would the max amount of reverse rotation on the crank be(in degrees), before I screw this thing up?

Also, ...the timing marks aren't even lined up any more! What the hell is up with that??

I need some good advise please!

Thanks