blindnsight

I picked up a 95 4runner (92 engine in it for reasons I'm sure have to do with HG) on the cheap. Had a compression issue on #4 cylinder. Leaking exhaust valve. Anyhow, got it down to the cam pulley bolts to get the backside timing cover off. Are the cam pulley bolts reverse threaded by chance? No mention of it in the FSM that I could find or even how to go about removing them. I had a 4 foot breaker bar on it with most of my weight and nothing. Was holding it still with the cover plate bolt but stopped before I ended up doing damage. Didn't see any threads with people having this much trouble with the cam pulley. I'm starting to think someone torqued it to crank shaft spec. Probably going to get a pulley holder. Also Leary of using a torch on it.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

scope103

I'm going to guess you have the 3VZE (it helps if you don't make us guess). I have much greater luck keeping the cam from turning by placing a 27mm wrench on the flats on the cam.


Holding the cam sprocket instead of the cam puts all the torque on the "knock pins" that keep the cam from turning on the sprocket.

A 1 1/16 wrench will also work in a pinch, but don't try to go cheap with a big adjustable wrench. It will rock into the soft aluminum head and you'll regret it. Spring for $10 at Home Depot.

blindnsight

Yeah, forgot to mention the engine. It's indeed the 3vze. That's precisely the info I needed and the picture helps a ton. Wasn't sure if it was wise to use the cam holds for this. Thanks a bunch for the reply that's going to save me loads of time and effort.