My original belts were still servicable when I changed the timing belt for the first time at 171,000 miles....


Andreas

 

While I've been turning wrenches for a long time, it's always nice to wade into a new vehicle with some idea of the depth. This was simply an awesome post (and subsequent dialog). Thank you all!

Belts first..then the timing belt in 20k...I'm off to get some ratcheting wrenches.

 

To then take the pulleys off, you simply remove the center nut on all of them?

 

I decided to man up and replace my belts today thanks to this thread. It was way easier than I anticipated, and I had it complete in about an hour and a half.

I found it was easier to slip the belts over the fan in my opinion.

 

First off, THANK YOU!! This was my first time replacing the drive belts on my '99 4Runner SR5, 3.4L 2x4. I used this walkthrough and, damn, I was actually successful. Alternator and A/C belts are, as described are straight forward.

Took me about 2 hours and went smooth except for two points:

It's true. Power steering is the hardest belt. Namely getting to the adjustment bolt [the one that is "underneath to your right of the power steering return line (soft hose higher on the fluid reservoir)"] I actually started to loosen another bolt until I recognized the right one (in the photo, it's highlighted by the GREEN LINES):

Find the end of that bolt and loosen it. I actually didn't have to remove the airbox: I have two extensions from my ratchet set (the "standard" 4 & 8 inch-ish ones) The 8" was almost too long, but just short enough that I could get it in there and loosen the PS adjuster bolt enough to get it with my hand. That is the last bolt to loosen.

Last thing:

I must agree with 'todos4runner': There is no need to take off the fan. Just slip the belts around it one fin at a time.

Thanks again stir fry boy for the great writeup! It's folks like you that allow folks like me to SAVE MONEY and LEARN new skills!

 

I replaced all 3 of my belts today. My old ones were possibly original from 2001, but I will never know due to me being the second owner of the vehicle. The timing belt was done 5 years ago, so they could be as new as that, although they don't show up in the service record. The old belts had several small cracks in the ribs so I figured it was time to replace them as a preventative thing.

Anyways, the write up helped me a lot. I bought gates micro-V belts from rockauto. It took me about 2.5 hours to do them all taking my time and having 1 stuck bolt (the one behind the power steering pulley that is now semi-stripped).

*notes*
Do no attempt this without Gear Wrenches.
PB Blaster worked great for some of the rusty bolts.
Take a sharpie and mark the location where the power steering and alternator brackets are before you loosen the bolts. Then u can line the marks up when u tighten everything back up.
Take pictures of the belts before you remove them.
Don't remove the fan, the belts can be manipulated around it.
Removing the airbox helps with adjusting the power steering bracket, takes an extra 10 minutes to do.

That's pretty much all I can think of from the top of my head. Thanks for the writeup.

 

Great post. Very helpful. However having changed the belts I now smell burning rubber whenever the 4runner has been driven, even a little bit. I tightened the belts per the directions in the Haynes manual. I have ensured that all belts are seated properly. Any pointers? I can't tell which belt is getting friction, and none of them paper to be damaged.

 

I have done it without Gear Wrenches and it can be done, I agree, you just have to remove the air box (as stated above) which is easy to do. I then used a flex handled ratchet. It won't matter if you mark the location as the new belts will be tighter. You want to go by feel. Better loose than tight. I have seen and heard reports of people having too tight of belts and the engine knocking. Soon as they loosened up the belts, the knocking stopped. It was also confirmed by a 10 year veteran Toyota Master Tech who is a friend of mine. You can replace the belts without removing the fan, but it's so much easier to just undo the fan and put it back on. Just my 2 cents.

 

I'm trying to loosen the power steering pump so that I can get the belt off. I loosened the bolts in red, and then the adjuster bolt circled in blue, per the instructions. Power steering pump isn't budging. What am I doing wrong?

 

You probably don't have the bolts loose enough. Loosen the bolts in red more. You may have to push down on the pump itself to get it to give a little.

 

Did this yesterday in 2 hours. Got all 3 belts for $28 bucks from Ebay. Mitsuboshi ones which were the same belts that were on it.

Did not use any gear wrenches and had no issues at all. One thing to note is that you have to loosen the tensioners LOTS to get the belts off so dont be alarmed if they do not seem loose at first. Oh and definitely do not take off the fan. Wasted effort IMO.

Thanks again for the article!!

 

Thanks for this informative write up. This and the conversation that followed were essential when I replaced the belts on my dad's T100 this weekend.

 

Thank you for posting such a detailed procedure for replacing the belts. you saved me much time and aggrevation.

 

I was poking around under the hood of my fairly new to me T100 and noticed a long split in my alternator belt (lengthwise, about 8", all the way through. Gatorback belt, quite new looking judging by condition of the rubber and bright yellow markings. I'm not really familiar with these grooved belts and pulleys compared to traditional v-belts. Is this just bad luck or could the recently installed rebuilt alternator's pulley (by PO) be a contributor? Tension does seem a little tight based on thumb deflection test. The other belts look similar vintage and seem fine but if I do the alternator I might as well do the rest. Will probably get OEM Toyota (Mitsuboshi?) belts.

Thanks -not_a_taco

 

I did mine and though it's very straightforward, it was made easier by the instructions and photos. Thanks to those who posted. I only removed the "skid plate" (plastic) on my T100 and all the bolts were easy to access, and slipping the belts over the fan was a piece of cake.

not_a_taco

 

Thanks for the write up, very well documented.
Josh

 

Added thread as a sticky.

 

What size is the alternator belt? I need to get one shorter than the oem

 

Good Write up.
However, I am finding out that the word "loosen" is kind of elastic:
1- The Alternator belt would not come out until the adjusting screw came out of the "u" slot -completely
2- Still struggling with the A/C belt: The small pulley is not moving even though the adjusting screw is almost totally out. Not sure if I should take it out.

Could it be that both belts were stretched too much at installation (unknown date)?

Thanks

 

Thanks for the great write-up. I slipped the belts over the fan rather than removing it and the shroud, but my gear wrenches came in very handy. I ran into a problem though.

The AC tensioner bolt was totally seized and I ended up spinning the head right off it. Any ideas on how to get it out? I've got enough free play in the tensioner itself to slide it up and down the bracket, but can't see how I'm going to get the bolt out of the back side of it.

Sorry that my first post is a question, if there's an intro thread some where I promise I'll find it and say hello!