22re in an 87 4runner.

Tore down to do timing cover and oil pan gaskets. Spaced out and removed cam gear and then turned crank. I believe this puts my cam and crank out of sync, in turn putting my valves at risk.

Timing cover is back on.

Cam gear dimple is at 12. When I stab the dizzy the rotor sits at 11. But, the notch on the harmonic balancer sits about two inches to the right of the 0 notch.

I assume I just slide the cam gear back off, hand turn the crank to put the notch on the balancer at 0 and then put it back together..?

I also assume I'm over-complicating this and someone will point out what I'm missing. This is only the second time I've dealt with timing on this thing.

PS.. I searched around but most of what I found was about ignition system timing and not interference.

 

Well, I put it back together and it seems to be right. I just have to put the oil pan back on and get the radiator and stuff bolted back in then I'll fire it up and see if it explodes...

 

I think your approach will work but I would do this:
1) slide cam gear off cam (keep holding chain to gear)
2) rotate crank so that notch is at 12:00
3) with tension on chain, remove cam gear from chain and re-insert so that bright link lines up
4) snug up cam gear to cam again
5) rotate crank several times to see if you hear any interference with valves (slowly)

Good luck!!

 

Thanks for the reassurance! That's pretty much what I did, and I probed the #1 spark plug port for the piston at full height. Now I just have to wait for my buddy to get here to help me lift my motor up so I can squeeze the oil pan back in.

 

I just did the same job. My only concern is that with the cover on the tensioner is applying tension, but if the crank ends up at 0 TDC, and the cam dimple is at 12:00, it should be ok, and I doubt you shagged the valves in the process.