Brand new timing belt

[Ridlbox]

So a couple of weeks ago my car snapped the timing belt going about 70 down the freeway I figured oh well I'll just go buy the parts and start putting it all together living in a small town it took almost 3 weeks to get all the parts and then half of them with the wrong ones . Well long story short finally got all the parts new seals in the front new timing belt alternator belt power steering belt water pump upper radiator hose and a few other miscellaneous parts just because I was in that far day after I finished drove it about 30 miles just to test it out and see how it felt I don't have a timing light Gottolovem has it so I timed it by ear did real well on the first night after the 30 or so miles so the following The day after my children returned home from school we decided to take it on a 350 mile journey to Nevada and back from the Sacramento area car did awesome we got home at midnight this morning happy Easter everyone

[Gottolovem]

Good job Cliff
Any time you need to borrow the timing light just stop by

[Ridlbox]

I did stop by you weren't home

[Ridlbox]

I averaged 30 mpg going up and over the pass and back the whole journey

[Gottolovem]

I'll be there tonight and the motorhome with the prius in tow is getting just under 8mpg on a 1500 mile trip

[Mark]

Hopefully your job went easier than mine. I'm just finished day 2 of trying to replace the front camshaft/crankshaft seals on my wagon. I'm hoping I'll be able to finish it tomorrow. The crankshaft pulley broke 2 pullers trying to get it off, including one that had the main bolt sheared in half. At the end of the day I got it off (with a 3rd puller). I replaced the camshaft seal. Now I can't get the lower timing gear off. There is only a few mm of clearance so I can't get the jaws of a puller on it. When I did this job on my '81 recently, the gear came off by hand. Tomorrow I'll look around the stores and see if there are any pullers with sharp-tipped jaws/arms. This is why I have 2 cars. So I can drive the other one when a 2-hour job turns into 3 days.

[Ridlbox]

I myself had a hell of a time trying to get that lower timing pulley gear off . In the end I did wind up making a tool to pull the pulley off it took me roughly 3 days to get the one pulley off I had penetrating lube heat and other sources but I still had to make a tool

[timothygodden]

I used ATF and 3" cats paw to pull the lower timing gear off. Put some duct tape on the prying end to protect the metal. A larger cats paw works as well you just gotta pull the grill and the radiator out of the way to get it in there.

[irowiki]

At 8 MPG is that even worth taking the RV?

[Mark]

I got my crankshaft timing gear off this morning. I used a valve spring compressor tool since the jaws were small enough to get behind the gear. Everything is back together now with new seals and a timing belt (even though the old one was fine, I thought I'd replace it while everything was apart. Now I'm back to my usual issue of the timing light showing 40 degrees BTDC when it's manually timed for 8 degrees.

[Jonymoto]

Last time I changed my crankshaft seal I drilled and tapped two holes (one on either side of the crankshaft hole) in the timing belt pulley. So next time I need to remove the gear all I have to do is bolt a flat bar to the pulley. A tapped hole in the centre of the bar and a thick washer in front of the crank shaft will allow me to screw the bar against the crankshaft to pull off the gear.

[Mark]

I'm lucky I guess. My crankshaft pulley already has 4 drilled/tapped holes in them so attaching a puller is easy. Oh, reading your post again, do you mean the crankshaft timing gear (at least I call it a gear because it looks like one. Maybe sprocket would be a better term)? Having drilled/tapped holes in that would be handy.

[Petros]

I have replaced front seals dozens of times on the 3a, 4a, and 4afe engine (all are similar), I have never had an issue with the lower belt sprocket. Usually I give the sprocket several strong whacks from different sides with a large soft hammer. It almost always breaks it loose so I can pull it off by hand or with the help of a small lever like a flat screw driver. A few times it was really stuck, but applying ATF and a little heat from a torch or heat gun, plus a few more whacks, allowed me to pry it off carefully.

note that when you pry on the sprocket, you are prying against a thin aluminum housing that is also the oil pump housing. I have seen leaks in the front cover, caused by cracks in this housing likely caused by prying against the housing.

So far I have never had to use a puller, even on engines that have never been pulled apart after 30 + years.

[Mark]

The sprocket on my '81 came off easily by hand. I noticed this morning on my '84 wagon, there was a bit of rust on the shaft and inside the sprocket/pulley. This may have made it more of a tight fit. When I reassembled it, I used fine sandpaper to sand down the rust patches and I applied a bit of grease. Everything slid back together nicely with just a bit of gentle tapping.

[Jonymoto]

Petros, if my memory serves me right, last time I removed the pulley to change the seal, I tried to pry it off and the flange broke off. Luckily Toyota still had them in stock. That's why I drilled and tapped the two holes in it so that I wouldn't break it again in future. The pulley is very brittle.