818 AV8R

just did my timing belt / water pump.

went to tighten starter bolts, one torqued one didnt. previous wrench seems to have stripped the threads for the front (upper) starter bolt. please advise.

95 'Runner V6 3.0 4x4 5 speed

Mstrkage

stop wrenching until you can get yourself a tap and fix the threads. If you cant tap it look for heli-coils they can work wonders

818 AV8R

thought about that stuff but the hole is approx 24" from accessibilty... but then again i dunno thats why im asking on here....

Mstrkage

I haven't had mine long enough to be familiar with the starting mounting location on these engines. If tapping it isn't an option maybe someone else will know something better

818 AV8R

cool thanks. maybe its doable maybe not, either way thanks for chiming in. I wish you many trouble free years with your starter or water pump for that matter...lol.

peow130

is it possible you have too small a bolt in the hole?

sb5walker

Someone did that to my veezy before I bought it - I found that the stock bolt was shorter than the threads in the bell housing (prob why it got stripped in the first place), so I replaced it with one 1/4" longer. Not an ideal solution, but it has held for 8 years, so, not bad. That was on an 89. Maybe by 95 they got a clue and used a proper sized bolt, not sure. The best way to fix is a heli-coil as mentioned but yeah, access. Ouch.

OutlawMike

x2, longer bolt just might do the trick, get you into some good threads.

YGF

top bolt on mine stripped and ya just put a longer bolt in and havnt had a problem yet, and iv taken it on and off probly 6 times since then and it still holds it on tight when i put it back on. if that doesnt work if memory serves me right, the top bolt goes through the houseing and into the starter mount? if so can u jsut drill the threads out get a longer bolt and put a nut on the end??

sb5walker

On mine, IIRC, the bell housing hole already goes all the way through, so a nut probably would be workable. And now that memory has been jogged, I think the bolt I got was a 1/2" longer, and does stick out of the hole on the bell housing side by a quarter inch or so.

818 AV8R

thanks for all the replies.... the longer bolt idea was top on my list but its comforting to hear of others actual success with the mod. I will try it and post my results...