I'm putting all the various TC bolts in and one of them is bottoming out. It's the one circled here:



According to the parts diagram printout given to me by the dealer, this bolt should be the same size and length as the bolt seen down and to the left with "8" on the head. That bolt goes in fine, but the one circled in red bottoms out.

Here's a close-up of the bottomed out bolt:



Am I doing something wrong?

 

Pretty simple either get a shorter bolt

shorten the bolt you have

Put some more washers under the bolt so it tightens up.

Why is it to long?

Could be dirt in hole. Perhaps it was not drilled as deep as it should be.

 

I had the same exact problem even with a new Toyota bolt. I believe the dealer diagram has the extra long bolt length for the "smog air pump" and NOT the A/C compressor. The smog pump bracket has a thicker mounting flange to the timing cover while the A/C compressor bracket isn't quite that thick. But i just cut 1/2 off the bolt with a dremel and called it a day...not that hard.

 

Sounds good to me; I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something stupid.

To the Dremel!

 

Turn up your impact ya sissy or hit it with your purse!

:wabbit2:

 

lol!

When you disassembled everything, did you make a template and put the bolts in the proper spot on your template?

 

It's an aftermarket bolt. THAT is the problem. Same with the bolt in the upper left hand side of the cover.

Its an aftermarket bolt thats too long.

 

Oooohh... Gotcha!

I agree with making it shorter. Not too sure on the dremel though, seems a bit tiny. I would use a cut off wheel on the air compressor and a fine file to clean up the threads.

 

Or just go to Toyota, pay the $1.50, and get the right bolt. The first time. Then you don't have to worry about messing up threads, bottoming out the bolt, cracking the timing cover, or a host of other issues associated with used the wrong hardware.

 

I can personally speak on the 'wrong bolt' thing.... Here's what happened to me,....

1. Had the motor rebuilt last year by a SUPPOSEDLY respectable shop.... Pulled the motor myself, which involved pulling the AC bracket bolts and Alternator bracket bolt(top right)

2. When he reassembled the long block, instead of using ONLY the bolts I gave him, he inserted 4 bolts(in the AC bracket locations and alternator bracket location) 'according to FSM's length specs' in the top right(aftermarket, as well, so the head was 17MM instead of 14MM)... right thread pitch, everything.... BUT, since my alternator bracket and AC brace weren't there, he bottomed that 'proper length bolt' out, causing a fracture in my block(Luckily only in the alternator bracket location) which ended up being the source of MASSIVE HEADACHES for me, chasing tail after mysterious leaks, etc., etc.... (Not including the MANY other things he screwed up, like my cam, etc.)

3. When I pulled my timing cover off, months later, due to t-cover leaks due to him using too much sealant on the cover gaskets, a piece of the block in the top right corner came off still attached to the sealant on the back of the cover. Long story short, ...

Because of his ignorance and lack of thorough investigation, I wound up just now finishing installing ANOTHER BLOCK, 4000 miles later!

Do yourself a favor, .....go to google and type in "4crawler timing cover installation" and read the length of the bolts..... then, even if you use the aftermarket ones from Lowes, WHATEVER, .... make sure that, instead of bottoming out, it's not hitting a spot in the block that was MUNCHED while removing the bolt. Those bolts have to be removed before the bolts that are perpendicular to those that hold the actual bracket in the block(3 bolts, pass. side of block). My point is, ..if the block mounting bolts were removed first, then the weight of that bracket(HEAVY) was pushing against the bolts while they were removed from the cover.(Not suggesting you did so, ...just pointing it out, in case it might be useful).

PS> When you put the ac bracket to block bolts in first, before mounting cover bolts through the bracket/front side.... don't tighten them ALL the way, just enough to hold it in place and take ALL weight off the bracket/bolts that are going through the cover.

TAKE WHATEVER EXTRA TIME IT TAKES, in order to make CERTAIN that you're doing it right, 'the first time'! ya know? lol. What I did, this time? Went down to the Junk yard and found a motor just like mine with the alternator and ac bracket still attached, never had been taken apart, and removed all the timing cover bolts and placed them in the template that I'd brought with me, printed out from 4crawler's bolt length sheet. Measured em, etc., ....and this time, ...everything went in like BUTTER! lol. Yes, lil extra time, ....but with the 40 or so hours I GOT STOLEN from me cuz of the moron who did my motor the first time? >>> WORTH THE EXTRA HOUR DRIVE AND LABOR OF DRIVING TO THE YARD! lol. YOU probably don't need to go through all that... Just read 4crawlers measurement page and replace the 'Auto Zone' bolt that it looks like you're questioning.