What a bear of a job. After 12 hours of knuckle ramming and cursing/praying, the timing chain replacement finally got done. This was the 2nd time around for me on a 22R-E and I thought that it would be easier this time, since I had done one earlier this year.

Was I ever wrong! I had a heck of a time getting the cover back on because my 95 4Runner used what appeared to be a metal head gasket (l left the head on), which kept getting mangled up after countless attempts to get the cover on. I wound up spending an hour just trying to get the cover on, and what finally worked was loosening up most of the oil pan bolts and then wacking the cover in with a rubber mallet from below.

The alternator also took over an hour to get on because the alternator was too snug for the lower bracket. In retrospect, I should have taken a grinder to the alternator and shaved off the lower attachment.

My distributor was 180 degrees off, but I finally figured that out after another hour of playing around with it...

I'm just glad the nightmare is over. I need a vacation from wrenching...

Troy

 

Why did you have to do another chain if you did it in the past year??

 

I thought it was best to remove the pan and clean the oil sump, etc.

 

I had an 87 4Runner with a 22R-E, which was sold a few months ago. I've now got a 95 4Runner with the same engine and it looked like the chain was the original one. The chain was so loose that I'm surprised it didn't jump a tooth. It was also eating away at the timing cover.


Troy

 

Yes, it is better to do that. The last time I did that, we had to remove the front differential and drop the drive shafts in order to get at the pan. The only reason it was removed was because my oil pump got chewed up into little chunks of aluminum.

Troy