GhostriderTx

Did all three drive belts on the 3.4L engine in my 2001 4Runner. On the difficulty scale probably a 3 because I splurged and bought the cheap ratchet wrenches from Harbor Freight. Probably close to a 6 if I hadn't spent the 4 bucks. One thing I noticed is that the Toyota parts search website has the AC and Power Steering parts reversed
I used the following

99364-2-870-78 Power Steering but Toyota calls it AC
90080-91126-83 A/C but Toyota lists it as PS
90080-91090-83 Alternator

Also I don't see how you can do the PS without pulling the air box. But it also gives you an excuse to clean the MAF sensor. I actually bought a belt tension gauge from NAPA but I am not sure how accurate it was. I just tensioned the tension screws back to their original setting which was easy to see since it was the clean part of the bolt. Absolutely no need to pull the fan shroud - new belts went over the fan with no problem. Total time was about 2 1/2 hours.

toytech76

Actually next time you do them here is a thought... you can grab the pump itself and pull it towards the engine. With the other hand you can reach under and tighten the adj bolt. If ya want some extra tension you can use a 1/4 drive 14mm wobbly socket and reach it from underneath as well. You should be able to do them without taking any parts off the car, air box or fan shroud

GhostriderTx

Believe or not I used a 1/2 inch drive 14 mm socket on a straight 1 inch extension on that bolt. Mainly because the darn thing fell off while I was looking at the alternator. I thought I had lost the socket since only the extension was on the ground. Spend 10-15 minutes feeling around the frame and the PS stuff until I saw the socket ten feet away by the rear wheel. The ratchet wrenches were on most of the other bolts. Taking the air box out only took five minutes and helped a lot.

toytech76

It can be a pain to do. For whatever reason one of the metal a/c lines runs right in front of the adjuster making very difficult to get to sometimes. If you are ever so careful you can bend it slightly out of the way

mkgarrison5

how did you know you needed to replace the belts? starting making noises and etc?? mine need to be replaced bad. in the cold mornings i turn the wheel and you can hear the belt slip a little. they arent cracked and look pretty decent with 50k + miles on them but they are very noisy right now

gpcollen1

Yeah - the 12mm and 14mm ratchet wrenches are pretty helpful. I figured out the other day that is one of the must have sets to work on cars these days. I only have a few metric ones - so i will have to complete my set soon.

warriors_03

You probably need to just tighten them up...

Mark

mkgarrison5

they have probably 60k miles or more on those belts. i am sure they need to be replaced..

GhostriderTx

No symptoms. I just decided that seven years was long enough. I have 73K and the belts I took off looked fine. No signs of cracking. Plus all the bolts were rust free. I really think it helps to live in the South to help reduce the corrosion on bolts. Did my shocks a few days ago and no real issues with those bolts either.

mkgarrison5

how does she ride now with new shocks? i am debating on getting new ones myself. i have 103k miles on her now with original everything!