03 toyota tacoma timing belt job

[69wannabe]

Been putting off doing the timing belt and water pump replacement job on my dad's tacoma for a couple months now. I am not a big toyota fan and this was my first time doing a timing belt replacement on a 3400 V6. I ordered a complete kit from amazon that was all toyota parts. New timing belt,water pump,thermostat,tensioner, idler pulley's and all new fan,alternator, and a/c compressor belt's. Was a little nervous but it really didn't turn out to be a bad job at all. If I didn't have the tool to hold the crankshaft/balancer I would have never got that bolt out tho... It was very necessary to remove and install and torque that bolt going back together with it. I done it all in about 5 hrs which I didn't think was too bad for my first time and it fired up and ran great when I got it all back together. Had to stop in the middle of reassembly and take my brother to the hospital, he was messing with his lawn mower and somehow the blades engaged and got two of his finger's pretty good!!! A few hour's at the ER and some stitches and pain med's and he back at home and resting for a few day's I guess. It looked really bad tho!!

[A383Wing]

I did lots of 3400 timing belts....got it gown to about 3 hours for doing everything....good job on doing it right the first time

[69wannabe]

3 hour's is awesome!!! I guess if I did them often I could cut off an hour or so. I was so worried about it being right I double checked the timing several times before I put the top cover on it!!
I changed the oil and filter on it this morning and put the little skid plates back on it and drove it around. All seem's to be good with no leaks and the only thing I had to go back and do was tighten up the alternator belt a little bit more. Guess after running it to town and back it stretched a lil bit.

[A383Wing]

yea, looking at everything involved gets a little intimidating when you open the hood and start removing stuff....makes you wanna slap the idiot that designed some of these engines

was yours the dual overhead cam or single style?

[69wannabe]

It only had one cam gear on each head so i'm assuming it was a single overhead cam engine but it seems like the timing cover said dual over head cam 3400 so I really am not sure. The timing belt was one of the easiest one's I have ever changed tho, before I removed the tensioner  I lined up all the marks and took the tensioner off and pushed that pulley down and removed the belt and I replaced the water pump and both the smooth pulley's and put the timing belt back on the engine and put the tensioner back on and turned it over a few rounds and all the marks lined back up perfectly so I went from there with it. Once it was all together it started up great and ran great!!! Almost scared me it started up so quickly!!!!!

[A383Wing]

yup.....those are the single overhead cams, easy to do.....the dual ones are a bit worse......

[69wannabe]

yup.....those are the single overhead cams, easy to do.....the dual ones are a bit worse......

I can imagine so, i'm putting a 4.7 jeep engine together and it has three timing chains!! It took me about and hour and a half to get it all lined up and all the guide's and the two tensioner's bolted in. I really don't see how these engine's even run at all!! It is single overhead cam too but alot more complicated than the toyota 3400!!!! Hope to get it in pretty soon and see how it run's...

[Indygenerallee]

Ever do a Ford 4.6 DOHC timing set?? That's real fun there! 

[69wannabe]

Ever do a Ford 4.6 DOHC timing set?? That's real fun there! 

Haven't done any ford overhead cam engine's, I have been told they are aggravating too!!! The SOHC engines are a pain in the rear so I couldn't imagine trying to time a DOHC engine!!! I know these modular engine's have been out for awhile and I been putting off doing any work on them but I finally decided to try and see what I could do with one. Found a really nice 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a bad engine for a fair price so decided to give it a shot and see if I could rebuild one. Got a little bit more to do but I think I got the worst of it behind me!!!!