To anyone who may be planning to replace the front crankshaft oil seal on a 3VZE at any point:

1. Must remove crankshaft timing pulley to do the job (of course)

A) If your crank timing pulley has never been removed, or you are even
reasonably sure that it hasn't, please heed the following advice:
-FSM for my '89 SR5 calls for use of 2 screwdrivers, 1 at 9:00, 1 at 3:00,
to pry that timing pulley loose ("if it will not come off by hand").
-I am certain my pulley had never been removed, and this method was
a complete failure.

Some aspirin later, I drilled & tapped two 1/4-20 holes in the face of the pulley, 180 degrees out from each other, and used a steering wheel puller. Even with this method, a considerable amount of force was required to get the pulley to move.

I hope this may save some Yota owners some unnecessary time, effort, and frustration.

Andy

 

I put the same puller I used on the crankshaft pulley to get the timing pulley off - worked like a charm.