Timing belt HELP for 3.4 Liter V6 Tacoma

Hey y'all hows it going!

Just the other day I started the process of replacing my timing belt. Noticed some squeaky noises coming from the engine and also knew it was time for a new timing belt since mine hasn't been replaced for about 100,000 miles on a 197,000 engine. So everything has been going well, got all the way to the timing belt, replaced the water pump and idler pulleys, but now I am stuck getting the new timing belt on and getting the timing right

Every time I put the new belt on, the notches aligning the first go, but every time I put the tensioner back on, the cam shaft notches always seem to be one notch off from the timing belt cover notches. Is this normal? If not, is there some trick to making sure the notches stay correct when putting the new belt on? This is my first go at is and it's giving me a real butt kicking.

Now I am stuck and frustrated, so I decided to turn to the forums for HELP!!!!

Thank you!

 

@Timmah!

https://youtu.be/vHC46ypHxWc?t=1h8m28s

 

Yep. I used a couple of ratcheting clamps on the cam pulleys to keep everything lines up. You don't need a lot of tension, but just enough to keep them engaged while you fiddle with the tensioner. I'm not really a fan of the metal binder clips, seams like they'd pinch the belt a little bit.

like this:

 

Get the cam pulleys lined up with their respective timing marks and do the same with the crankshaft timing gear. Get the belt onto the cam pulleys and upper idler pulley correctly first and use binder clips to hold the belt onto each cam pulley. Next wrap the belt around the water pump pulley, and then pull the belt tight hooking the belt onto the crankshaft timing gear. The belt has to be pulled taught with no slack between the water pump pulley and the timing gear. The trick to getting the belt onto the lower idler pulley is to have the tensioner bolts backed off some. The FSM actually says to put the tensioner on last but backing off the bolts a bit achieves the same thing while keeping some tension on the belt. Once the belt is slipped over the lower idler pulley, you rotate the crankshaft timing gear two full revolutions which will turn the crank pulleys one full revolution and double check all the timing marks are still lined up. I think maybe where you're going wrong is your either pulling on the belt a little too hard when getting the belt over all the pulleys or you're leaving some slack between the water pump pulley and the crankshaft timing gear.

 

For some reason it didn't capture the start time.

Skip to 1:09:00

 

For another look at this, watch Part 2 starting at 13:30. This is a couple weeks after we did the job and we realized Sean had a problem with his engine and we had to go back in to figure out what was wrong. This time we have the tensioner bolts backed off and it made it much easier to slip the belt over the lower idler pulley.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/mErd7xoBS9I

 

Loved his video! Super detailed and very well explained! Been watching it a couple times but been getting frustrated so I've decided to put everything on hold. Plus with the weather not being the best to work in, I thought it would be a good time to fall back and take a deep breath in

 

This actually sounds like the thing I might be screwing up, I'll give this a go!

 

You'll get it. Taking a break when things get frustrating is a good idea.

 

Hey Tim! I love your video on this, super well done! I didn't realize you had a part 2! Thank you for reaching out and letting me know, appreciate the help and love the car!