Changing V8 Serpentine Belt

[RickyCRX]

Well, I did a search on here to see what was involved in changing out the serpentine belt on a V8. I noticed a lot of people having issues with belts/pulleys on early '03 V6's, but not much talk about changing it on the V8's. Since my V8 has 54k miles on it, the belt was starting to look a little 'weathered' and showing a few dry-rotting cracks on it. Since I'm taking a 6,000 mile road trip in less than two weeks I figured I would go ahead and swap it out just for safety sake. All I have to say is that it was a very easy job. The hardest part was making sure the belt got wrapped around the crank pulley properly, as the clearance down there was very minimal. Small hands would definitely help a lot to do this job. A 14mm socket and ratchet on the tensioner and the original belt came off in literally 10 seconds. 10 minutes of fighting to get the new belt over all of the accessory pulleys, and I was done. Very easy job.

I thought I'd just let everybody know that it's about a 10-15 minute job total if you're doing it by yourself. Expect to scrape up your arm a little bit on the cooling fan when reaching down in there to get the belt on properly over the crank pulley, but other than that it was a cake walk.

Ricky

 

[TeryT]

Well, I did a search on here to see what was involved in changing out the serpentine belt on a V8. I noticed a lot of people having issues with belts/pulleys on early '03 V6's, but not much talk about changing it on the V8's. Since my V8 has 54k miles on it, the belt was starting to look a little 'weathered' and showing a few dry-rotting cracks on it. Since I'm taking a 6,000 mile road trip in less than two weeks I figured I would go ahead and swap it out just for safety sake. All I have to say is that it was a very easy job. The hardest part was making sure the belt got wrapped around the crank pulley properly, as the clearance down there was very minimal. Small hands would definitely help a lot to do this job. A 14mm socket and ratchet on the tensioner and the original belt came off in literally 10 seconds. 10 minutes of fighting to get the new belt over all of the accessory pulleys, and I was done. Very easy job.

I thought I'd just let everybody know that it's about a 10-15 minute job total if you're doing it by yourself. Expect to scrape up your arm a little bit on the cooling fan when reaching down in there to get the belt on properly over the crank pulley, but other than that it was a cake walk.

Ricky

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but I didn't see the more recent one on this!

Just changed the serp belt on my V8 @ 81k. The belt actually looked to be in pretty good shape, which was surprising, considering the mileage & heat it sees in Arizona.

This is a 10-15 minute job, in my estimation if:
1. You have small hands & arms
2. You've done it before

You do not need to take anything off (skid plate, tensioner, fan), and the above post is correct in everything it says (except maybe the time). It took me about a half hour as the belt kept slipping off one pulley, while I was trying to get it on another one. The toughest is the crank shaft pulley, which is the lowest one.

So here's what I will do the next time when putting it on (getting it off was easy). Thread it around all pulleys except the A/C pulley (far right). With your right hand, keep tension on the belt near the A/C pulley, to keep it from slipping off any others (the crank pulley mainly). Put a ratchet with 14 mm socket on the tensioner pulley (suggest using a cheater bar on the wrench), and turn it counter clockwise (relieves tension), using your left hand. Then you can slip the belt over the A/C pulley with your right hand. Viola!

Check to make sure all the belts are on properly. You may need to depress the tensioner slightly to slip the belt fully onto all the pulleys correctly.

Hope that helps!

 

[RickyCRX]

Re: Re: Changing V8 Serpentine Belt

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but I didn't see the more recent one on this!

Just changed the serp belt on my V8 @ 81k. The belt actually looked to be in pretty good shape, which was surprising, considering the mileage & heat it sees in Arizona.

This is a 10-15 minute job, in my estimation if:
1. You have small hands & arms
2. You've done it before

You do not need to take anything off (skid plate, tensioner, fan), and the above post is correct in everything it says (except maybe the time). It took me about a half hour as the belt kept slipping off one pulley, while I was trying to get it on another one. The toughest is the crank shaft pulley, which is the lowest one.
(...snip!)

With practice, it really is a 15-minute job; although it helps that I'm generally quite mechanically inclined and have had lots of practice taking various belts on and off over the years... Numerous timing belts on Hondas; had to take the serpentine belt off and back on my POS S10 Blazer dozens of times that I used to have a few years back, etc....

With practice belt R&R becomes much quicker and easier.

Ricky

 

[TeryT]

I'm quite mechanical as well, but probably haven't done as many belts. If it wasn't for the difficulty of getting to the crank pulley, it would have been a 10 minute job for me the 1st time!

 

[RickyCRX]

One thing that helps is if you have trouble getting to the crank pulley, start with that one first... Make a "half loop" out of the belt and hook it around the bottom of the crank pulley using both hands... Once it's down there, it's usually fairly easy to get it to stay there...

Sometimes it almost helps to be a half-contortionist, too..

Ricky

 

[TeryT]

One thing that helps is if you have trouble getting to the crank pulley, start with that one first...

Ricky

Yup, that's the bugger! And the main reason I discovered I needed to keep slight tension on the belt, once it was around that crank pulley, so it didn't slip off.

Hopefully this discussion will be useful to others.

Anyway, have a great New Years!

 

[greasefingers]

Click here and scroll for the schematic and FSM instructions
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?s=&postid=282426#post282426

 

[stanleybb50]

I know this is resurrecting an old thread, but I didn't see the more recent one on this!

Just changed the serp belt on my V8 @ 81k. The belt actually looked to be in pretty good shape, which was surprising, considering the mileage & heat it sees in Arizona.

This is a 10-15 minute job, in my estimation if:
1. You have small hands & arms
2. You've done it before

You do not need to take anything off (skid plate, tensioner, fan), and the above post is correct in everything it says (except maybe the time). It took me about a half hour as the belt kept slipping off one pulley, while I was trying to get it on another one. The toughest is the crank shaft pulley, which is the lowest one.

So here's what I will do the next time when putting it on (getting it off was easy). Thread it around all pulleys except the A/C pulley (far right). With your right hand, keep tension on the belt near the A/C pulley, to keep it from slipping off any others (the crank pulley mainly). Put a ratchet with 14 mm socket on the tensioner pulley (suggest using a cheater bar on the wrench), and turn it counter clockwise (relieves tension), using your left hand. Then you can slip the belt over the A/C pulley with your right hand. Viola!

Check to make sure all the belts are on properly. You may need to depress the tensioner slightly to slip the belt fully onto all the pulleys correctly.

Hope that helps!

Again, this old thread is being bumped to the top, but I felt it was deserving so people see it.. Lol. This was excellent advice for me today (this whole post). If you are going to embark on swapping the belt, follow this and you'll be good! Took me about a half hour in total. The best advice was routing over the a/c pulley last, by relieving the tension with the tensioner.

Wasn't bad and saved some money! Got some scrapes on my forearms as battle wounds.

 

[U.G.N.]

Replaced the serpentine belt yesterday evening, it took me an hour for the whole process and I could do it faster if I have done it before. I idled the vehicle for 10 min and everything looked normal. No noise or any problems with the tensioner or pulley. Also the timing belt should be good for another 100,000 kms so I do not need to worry for 5 years with my average driving kms per year

Attached are couple of guides for replacing the belt. I did not understand that the tensioner is under constant tension or pressure and once you remove the old belt it keeps tension on the ratchet and I could not remove it. I just left it on top of the fan radiator.

Definitely either a long ratchet is required or a small pipe otherwise the tension is so high I could not do it with the short ratchet only.

 

[Steamdonkey]

Can anyone tell me the Toyota part number or the the length of the belt? I thought I read somewhere that it had to be 90+ inches if you have air conditioning. I found Gates and Dayco belts online that are ~88". I thought A/C was standard so shouldn't all 2004 V8 4Runners have the same belt length? Maybe A/C was an option in markets outside the US.

 

[4thGenV8]

Can anyone tell me the Toyota part number or the the length of the belt? I thought I read somewhere that it had to be 90+ inches if you have air conditioning. I found Gates and Dayco belts online that are ~88". I thought A/C was standard so shouldn't all 2004 V8 4Runners have the same belt length? Maybe A/C was an option in markets outside the US.

This is the exact part you are looking for. $17 on Amazon, cant beat it.

Automotive Aftermarket Catalog - MyCarParts