1HZ Timing belt - slack belt?

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rstl99

rstl99

10 Year 15 Year
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Just got the winter cover off the truck, and getting ready to change the timing belt when weather warms up a bit more. Have a kit with belt, tensioner, spring, and seals. All looks clean and dry under the timing belt cover. The belt looks in very good shape actually, which makes me think I can probably go longer with it, but will likely replace it anyway (I think there's 70k kms on it according to the records).

I notice the belt is quite slack (look at the two pics). Is this normal? Or a sign of either stretched belt, failing tensioner, or ??:confused:

Any tips when it comes to getting the new belt and tensioner on, and the seals if I decide to replace them too? Thanks.
1hztbelt1.webp
1hztbelt2.webp
 
Belts are cheap and that ones looks stretched to me. I would be changing the whole lot now to make sure.

There is not much to it except making sure the engine and fuel pump dont move while the belts off.
I put it in top gear and jam the handbrake on and make some marks before you start or you can go to the factory marks.
Usually 20 mins from start to finish
 
That would definitely concern me, it should be firm. it can be hard to see the wear, and a little wear can make a couple of degrees difference to cam timing.
I would change it straight away, its an easy job and not worth letting it fail.

tip, to remove the tensioner spring, use a loop of wire to pull the end of the tensioner spring clear of its pin. pull toward the left hand side of the vehicle.
 
Thanks mates, that belt is going for sure!! I'm amazed the truck started and ran so well with that much slack in the belt...

Thanks also for the tips, much appreciated! Certainly looks a lot easier than changing the timing belt in the 2.5na 4 cyl diesel in a Land-Rover 110 I used to own. Needed to remove the crank bolt in that case which was on VERY tight, and I had no impact wrench nor air. Ended up dropping the oil tank, inserting a piece of wood between a crank journal and the side of the engine block, then reefing on the bolt with a 3/4" socket wrench and very long extension. Popped off with a loud crack. That was certainly more than a 20 minute job, in THAT case ;)
 
timing belts are designed not to stretch,turn the crank clockwise and check to see if the tensioner tighten the belt,and check that the tensioner pivot is loose after you remove the belt and spring.
simon
 
Thanks Simon. I have a replacement tensioner assembly that I will put in as well, so any problems associated with the old (original?) tensioner should go away.
 
They will look quite slack if you turn the engine in reverse rotation?

I have never seen a belt that slack>

Rob
 
Yeah, interesting the slackness. The engine basically sat all winter as I shut it down last Fall, and I just took the cover off and it was in that state. As I indicated earlier, I'm amazed the truck started and ran as well as it did with a belt potentially that slack... Long live the 1HZ!!!;)
 
Update

Update:
Replaced the belt, tensioner and spring on Friday.
All went well, thanks to Toyota engineers for making this task very straightforward!!
Only snag was figuring out how to get the pesky spring end onto the post. Finally dawned on me to use my brake spring tool, which allowed me to stretch the spring by leveraging on the post, and coax it onto the post with a screwdriver.
When the spring snapped into place, all of a sudden the slackness that was still in the new belt disappeared and it became nice and taut.
Must have been the old spring and/or tensioner that allowed the slack seen in the old belt.

I had ordered the belt, tensioner and spring recently, to do this job. In rummaging in my garage, I came across a box of parts I had ordered from a different supplier last year, and yeah, you guessed it, in that box were a belt (genuine Toyota at that!), tensioner, spring, etc.... Must be early sign of Alzheimer's ;) Oh well, I have the parts to do this again in, what, 100,000 kms?!? :lol:
 
mudgudgeon said:
mate. its good to be prepared. Problem is, if you are like me, in 100k km, you will probably go and buy another :D
Click to expand...

You're probably right!! :rolleyes:
At least I'm better now than when I owned a Defender. I had thought I would own that truck forever, so had ordered a whole pile of parts from the UK (anything I thought could ever wear out on it). So when I _did_ sell it a few years ago (nothing is forever, it seems), the buyer didn't want the parts and I still have them!

Now I buy what I need when I figure I'll need it, and don't stockpile as I used to (well, at least, until I head out on that trans-Americas trek I've always dreamed about, and want to bring along some spares) :D
 
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