Got it all open but when I line everything up the damper timing mark lines up at 15 BTDC on cover gauge? Piston is at top of stroke. Truck has always run well. Should I re-align crank to TDC and how?

 

there is a notch on the crank shaft belt guide and a mark on the motor and timing cover for the cam gears there are marks on the back of the timing cover "very top"

 

here is a pic i found to help you out

 

and to align to tdc carefully turn the crankshaft

 

I am aware of all the alignment marks from distributor to crankshaft and checked for piston at top of stroke. In my case they are all lining up ok except for the timing marks on damper and belt cover. These consistently line up at 15 degrees BeFore tdc. Truck was running good to great. Im in for a leaky water pump and want to do belt while here. Got to get finished so belt is now off to do pump. Fingers crossed i'm not up the creek.

 

best wishes to you man did mine a few months ago but i thought my water pump was squeling wrong clutch fan mounting bracket change everything while i was in there tho

 

Maybe your belt if off a tooth? If you were to clamp the belt at the cam gears so it wouldn't move & then loosen up the slack so you could turn the crankshaft a tooth would it line up then? Instead of looking at the timing mark maybe try looking at the alignment marks on the cog/pulley on the crank shaft, do those dots line up? Your cam gears may be lined up correctly but the crank cog could simply be off a tooth.

 

come to think of it i remember where i had trouble with the belt and it was that to get the belt on you need to work right to left tensioner need to be the last thing belt goes under so crank, water pump, cams then tensioner and it should go smooth and everything stays aligned

 

As I now understand this the alignment before taking the old belt off is not nearly as important as alignment during installation of the new belt. I was only concerned as I have never done this job before. I think is important to at least make note of the initial alignment as it may help to diagnose a later alignment problem.

 

Catamount, I have the same issue with my 4runner. The marks on the timing belt pulleys that are mounted to the cam shafts do not line when the #1 is at TDC. But in my case, they are off about 15 to 20 degrees at the top pulleys. I'll do the same as you, namely align them properly when I put the belt back in. If you had any subsequent issues when you finished the job, please post so that I can learn from you. Thanks. Gerry

 

I have no problems. You should only have to set the timing once its running.