Timing belt trick - 4gunner kicked my arse this weekend

[Jhelms]

First the trick: You can remove the tensioner without taking off the ac compressor. Some may already know this but here is how.
- Use a LONG 1/4" extension and slip it between the oil pan and the brace. Just enough room for it to fit. Have it exit just below the tensioner
- Once through, put a 12mm short socket on the end of the extension and slide it up to that pesky rear tensioner bolt and remove! Saves a LOT of time. I know, because I had to do it 3 times this weekend! lol


Mind you, I have NEVER had an issue with a timing belt installation - always smooth as silk. My turn to get sucker punched a few times. If you cannot laugh at yourself... yeah..

So.. my Saturday:
Knocked the timing belt out. Re-assembled and filled with coolant. Fired her up and she idled fine. Revved the motor a little and knew right away something was off. Pulled the top cam cover and pulleys lined up, looked at the crank pulley and... oh hell. Looks to be off two teeth? What the heck?

So... time to do the whole timing belt job all over again woohoo! Somehow the belt slipped 2 full teeth and I freaking missed it. Tensioner was good, no issues with install at all. But there she was... slipped. :redbrick:

Pulled the tensioner out, compressed it and put everything back in - lined it up. Good to go! Then I put the crank pulley on with the bottom cover for a quick sanity check - check timing... WAY OFF. Ah F-me already... I put the belt on 180 out. Really? Two issues on one timing belt install? Just not my day.

Flipped the belt, compressed the tensioner and re-installed. Finally, good to go. Re-assembled it all and she is fine. So in short, I did 2.5ish timing belt jobs on the silver 4runner in about 6 hours. And I feel every single bit of it. One things for sure, when I do the white 4runner... that will likely be the fastest timing belt job I have ever done since I have now done so many on the 3.4L haha.

While I was in there, I also put in:
- New Aisin water pump PN: WPT-100
- All belts replaced with gates PN(s) K040413 K040343 and K040420
- AC idler pulley replaced / gates PN: 38031
- Gates timing belt kit with tensioner and idler PN: TCK271
- Crank seal / cam seals / toyota PN: Cam x 2 9031138051 / Crank PN:9031140022
- New Aisin false water pump idler PN: FBT-004
- New Aisin fan clutch PN: FCT-013
- New radiator PN: 221-0508
- Thermostat Toyota PN: 9091603075
- T-stat gasket PN: 1632562010

Couple of quick pics... did not take any of the work as my camera man (son) was off duty this weekend. So I only got some photos pre-work.

 

[LittleCaesar]

Very nice. How much of a PITA were the cam bolts to remove? I had my replace cam seals but didn't replace mine when I changed out my belt.

Bump the starter to remove the crank bolt?

 

[Jhelms]

Very nice. How much of a PITA were the cam bolts to remove? I had my replace cam seals but didn't replace mine when I changed out my belt.

Bump the starter to remove the crank bolt?

With the radiator removed, an impact takes the crank bolt out in a heartbeat. There is just enough room for a short 19mm impact socket and a good 1/2" gun for the crank bolt. The 17mm cam bolts were cake - impact never noticed the crank bolt or cam bolts were there haha (Aircat 1000m nitrocat on 1/2" line / fed by 150psi)

On subaru's. I pretty much always use the bump start to loosen the bolt No room.

 

[HiLife]

Good that you were able to get through that.
Well done!
:cheers:

Did you purchase the radiator locally?

 

[LittleCaesar]

I have/had an Aircat 1150 until my brother borrowed it, maybe permanently. It doesn't help he lives two states away.

I tried the extension method to remove the hidden tensioner bolt but broke the pawl in my ratchet trying to remove it.

 

[meRockboost]

I did mine this weekend, I left the washer out behind the tensioner pulley. You can change the timing belt without removing the tensioner. It takes two people but you use a breaker bar per cam bolt and put slack in the upper tensioner and remover it, then do the same for install.

 

[4runnlim]

Are you saying that you froze the top cams and moved the bottom cam clockwise to create slack??

Also, i am trying to remove the tensioner on my '98 4Runner LTD, but the are frozen. I think I read that they are aluminum. I had no idea that this would be so difficult and think I may have rounded one of the bolts.

 

[stir_fry_boy]

Are you saying that you froze the top cams and moved the bottom cam clockwise to create slack??

Also, i am trying to remove the tensioner on my '98 4Runner LTD, but the are frozen. I think I read that they are aluminum. I had no idea that this would be so difficult and think I may have rounded one of the bolts.

Easiest way to get the cams off is an impact. Otherwise, I wrap the cam with the old belt and use a chain wrench.