Timing Belt Change: Royal Screw Up (pics)

what appears to be so easy for the rest of you: for me, apparently, the courage you've all given me to take a crack at this myself has resulted in disaster. Put a breaker bar on it, put the special tool on it, I pushed and I pulled, grunted and groaned trying to pull it off with my 1/2" breaker bar, I finally retreated to touching the ignition like so many of you said was "easy," and I get this:

...and the bolt isn't even loose yet. I'm at a standstill, not knowing what to do. Any advice is appreciated.

Drat.

 

I saw a video of this on youtube, looked pretty straight forward, the guys built their own tool. I decide to have it done by a pro, cost me $832.00 but man I feel refreshed.

 

...If that's advice, it's not exactly what I'm looking for at this point.

 

I thought a right angle impact is what most people use.

 

From what it looks like the plate was not close enough to the pulley (aka too much stress on the bolts).

You're going to want to cut those ones off, use a vise to un-thread the old ones, then rebuild it using shorter grade 8 bolts.

Now would be a good time to become a surgeon with a dremel otherwise you might be in an uncomfortable spot with a hacksaw for a while.

Good luck, man!

 

Nevermind!

I didn't look at the second one close enough...

You're still going to need to use shorter fingers to keep the stress lower.

 

As stated above your pulley tool is too long. Make studs so they go deep in pulley and your bar rests against pulley. Now I would never use the engine to break a bolt loose. You need the right breaker bar and use your muscles. I used a 3/4 " breaker bar.and rested the pulley tool against the frame. Be careful trying to take short cuts like some do on here. Like using the engine to break a bolt loose. Trust me I have never in my 20+ years as a tech done that. Do it the right way and you will have no problems...

 

Dude, all you had to do was get a breaker bar with a deep impact socket , put it squarely on the nut/bolt, wedge the bar either on the frame somewhere or on mother earth (my favorite place to brace) check the socket again to make sure its still on correctly, & hit the starter 1 time, done & done, this has worked for me without fail at least 10 times, dont know the deal with the "special tool" you were told to use...

 

& I know plenty of techs that have & do with no issues.....

 

I tried to do this a second time, but after I lined it all up against the frame, crawled back into the cab to try and turn it over again, I discovered I have no juice in the ignition system. None. Nada. Perhaps I've really REALLY messed things up in there, I don't know.

I've disconnected the battery and will deal with that once the rest is done...if it's ever done. I'm off to town to buy a 4" grinder to cut these damn prongs off to a shorter length.

I'm in a bad, bad mood... I swear, if something can go wrong...I can make it worse.

 

This.

You can't bump the engine with the "special tool" engaged or you'll break the tool.

The tool is used to keep the crank from turning while you use a breaker bar to loosen the center bolt.

If you are going to bump the ignition, then remove the tool, and like 4WD said, lay the breaker bar on the frame and bump the starter... it'll pop right off.

 

I totally understand that bro'. If you were local , I'd show you how simple this process is, the only real hazard is making sure the engine doesn't start which of course those steps are taken before you attempt..

 

That was the technique recommended to me by a number of Toyota techs when I replaced the timing belt on my '03 Tundra.

 

Bingo... pull the plugs first.

I was a bit concerned on the '03 Tundra because it had the "crank-hold" feature where you would hit the starter and the engine would crank until it started. To confirm, I spent a fair amount of time verifying exactly how long I could/had to hold the switch in the "start" position before/until the crank hold engaged.

 

block the wheels, pull the parking break, and put the truck in gear. Then use a breaker bar with a pipe on it to give you leverage. I would put a penetrating oil on it, then gentle pulls on the bar should get it loose. thats the way I have always done it with manual cars. Or take the front apart and use an impact.

 

Well just because it may work don't make it the right way. There is no substitute for correct tools. I will tell you this much if I had a tech use a halfass short cut like that on one of our customer engines it would be his last working for me.. no offense to you or how you wish to do your work on your truck. But I will chose to use correct tools and methods.

 

Wow well not how I would recommend doing it. A good breaker bar and a well made holdng tool is the way to go.

 

I cringed when someone suggested it to me as well. Then, I spoke to two different techs at two different Toyota dealerships. They said that is how they did all of their 3.4 crank pulley removals. They didn't even have the special tool at their shops.

I made the tool, had no luck with it and gave in to the starter bump idea. Worked like a charm.

 

Well I made the tool and used a 3/4 breaker bar and bingo .. but I understand not everyone has the rang of tools that I have.

 

Same here.

I asked about a holder tool and got the look. Told me to bump it.
WTF? Checked with 2 other guys online and they said the same thing.
These weren't just "yahoos on the internet"... these were Toyota Master Mechanics and respected members on Tundrasolutions (and one was on Thumpertalk).