03 Timing belt quandry

Just wanted to post an update on this timing belt job..

Ive spent a few hours in the driveway for the last couple evenings and so far everything has gone well. The most difficult part thus far has been breaking that crank bolt loose. I spent a couple hours last night hacking together a makeshift crank pulley holder. It worked great, I wedged it against the driver side frame and used drill bits to hold it in the pulley (as everyone on here has talked about). Then a breaker bar and some elbow grease broke it free.

I removed the timing belt cover last night and the timing belt looks great, no leaks in the waterpump and the idler bearings look good. Im going to replace the timing belt and all 3 of the accessory belts anyhow since the truck is an 03, but im torn on the idler bearings, tensioner, waterpump, and thermostat. I have all of the parts, but am i being silly and over cautious by replacing everything just because of its age? The truck only has 38k miles on it, so im tempted to replace all the belts, put it back together, and then replace everything around 100k again.. and at that point ill still have all the parts minus the 3 accessory belts and timing belt.

Any thoughts? Am i being crazy here?

 

Wait, you have an 03 with 38k miles on it??

I think you would probably be fine if you aren't noticing other problems. However, seals might have dried up a bit though (expecially in AZ climate) and be more prone to cracking prior to their normal mileage based life expectancy, so it might not be a bad idea as a precaution and then you will be good for another 10 years (or 38k miles ).

And if you already have the parts and have it torn apart why not?

 

While you've got it all apart....just DO IT. Change water pump & thermostat.

In majority of the cases, the water pump seal will fail (where it attaches to the block). After 10 years, its probably dry rotted a bit anyway. You're better off changing it now and not 'waiting' for something to leak in the future.

 

yeah Geosh, i just got it a couple weeks ago from a guy who only used it on the weekends for camping. I wasnt even in the market for a truck because i LOVE mine.. but i accidentally came across this thing and i just had to have it! With a stock 4wd and 5spd trans with 38k, i couldnt find an excuse NOT to buy it.

I think ill take your guys/gals advice and just do it while im in there.. most of the work is already done i suppose. And a little piece of mind when your 50 miles from civilization is always a good companion

 

While you do have low miles, like tires your belts can rot with age, and you might as well replace the all small parts while you're in there. That's what I would do.

 

I continued to work on the truck last night.. and it turns out replacing he timing belt tensioner GREATLY increases the time that this job takes (for me atleast). I probably spent a solid 5 hours removing and juggling the power steering pump and a/c compressor.. this is necessary to replace the old tensioner. The a/c compressor is held on by 4 bolts that mount to the a/c compressor bracket. In order to get at the bracket, you have to unbolt the compressor and kinda juggle it around to get to the bolts on the bracket. You have to be careful not to destroy any of those pricey a/c lines in the process though. Its pretty darn tight in the area of the a/c bracket and there are a total of 5 bolts - four of which are in pretty awkward places to get at with a socket. A good old fashion wrench is your best bet, but then its difficult to break these bolts loose at 30ft-lbs and 10 years of gunk. It also helps to remove the power steering pump and shove it aside to open up the area a bit. Once you get the bracket off and get the old tensioner replaced, getting the a/c bracket back on and reinstalling the a/c pump is a lot easier. Just dont forget that there is a wire holder on one of the bottom bracket bolts like i did then you get to take the compressor back off and add a few dollars to the swear jar. After installing the new tensioner, lower idler bearing, ac bracket and ps pump i called it a night. Ill update this again tomorrow morning (if anyone cares)

PS: I found a ton of good wrtie ups and videos and used those alongside the FSM. However, i saw nothing about removing the old tensioner and installing a new one. All of the write ups and videos omitted this part... most have chosen to just compress the tensioner and install the pin using the SST. Doing it that way saves you from removing the ps pump, ac compressor and ac compressor bracket. So thats why i wanted to write up my thoughts on this. My guess is that a lot of you already know all of these things. But for the beginners like myself, i thought it might be nice to explain this a bit.

 

I am signing in for more on all this... I am sure I would feel better just knowing all this has been R&R'd... Guess I need to have a look/see at the how to change all this myself.

Thanks for the info shared!!!

 

I had to wait for some other parts to come in for an unrelated part of the truck, but i finished the timing belt completely last night. Rowdy, if your mechanically inclined at all, i think you'll do just fine. Its a pretty straight forward job and its also a good learning experience. If youd like, i can create a list of tools, parts, and articles that i used to complete the job. I got a lot of good guidence and help from people here at TW so id like to pay it forward.