Ok is there some little trick I'm missing to get these beasts back on. I've got the 2CT engine with the twin fanbelts and after changing the timing belt am having huge trouble getting these back on. I've tried using all three pulleys as the 'last loop'. The crank pulley is just inaccessible down at the bottom and the alternator pulley is hidden behind a few bits of piping which makes levering them next to impossible. By using a couple of screwdrivers as levers I managed to get one belt over the top pulley but I don't like the amount of force I had to use to get it there. Plus I pulled out the alternator pivot bolt to do it and now the newly fitted belt sits directly over the hole it has to go back in. I've even tried putting the belts over the top pulley before trying to put it back in place but still no joy.

The original belts were a couple of genuine toyota ones 90916-02381 whereas the replacement ones are Gates of the same size. Is this the right part no. or has someone fitted shorter ones at a previous change? Looking through the archives I see no mention of any similar trouble which makes me wonder what I am doing wrong. I have changed lots of similar belts in the past and they usually just slip on easily when you slacken off the alternator. Surely I don't need a crowbar?

- (#13963) John, 30 Oct 04 04:21

John. This does not normally cause a lot of difficulty and, of course, you have already removed the P/S belt. Are you trying to do this job without removing the drivers side floor pan? It can be made easier, if you have not removed the floor pan, by removing the fan. This allows the top, double, idler pulley to "rock", therebye allowing a bit more give in the new belts when fitting them. Of course, this does not allow you to tension the belt via the alternator bracket. The drivers side floor pan does come out quite easily and is not the formidible job which it might, at first, appear. In view of possible overload on the alternator shaft and the fan idler assembly, it would be prudent to persevere and get that alternator bracket to swing a bit further and put the pivot bolt back in place before fitting the belts.

- (#13963) John Davis (Leics), 30 Oct 04 07:25

At the time I had the whole of the front exposed so access was no problem. 90916-02381 translates as 1000 x 13 in the standard way of measuring fan belts. One of the belts I had been given was actually a 987 x 13 and that extra centimetre or so made all the difference. A visit to my local factors got the proper belt and all went on eventually although it is all a bit of a tight fit. I put them both around the crankshaft pulley and the alternator, then around the fan pulley which I had not yet put in place. This then fitted on its four studs with the help of a couple of clouts of the hammer until I could bolt on the fluid coupling.

If I was doing this again I would get a slightly longer belt since there is plenty of slack in the alternator adjusting bolt. And of course would check the actual belt I was sold, not just the packet it came in.

- (#13963) John, 30 Oct 04 10:38

Toyota belt number is a correct one.
Have you undone the adjuster on the alternator correctly, as well as the pivot bolt?

- (#13963) Clive (Bristol), 30 Oct 04 10:43

The engine is such a pig to get to that I decided that while I was there I would clean as much as possible so I even took out the little block that the adjustor and lock bolt pass through and scrubbed off all the gunk kicked up off the road. Then spent the next half hour scraping my knuckles and wishing I hadn't bothered. I first took off the pivot bolt to retrieve the wretched thing from the little burrow underneath.

The alternator was at its slackest position where a pipe coming from the oil pump was pressing against a similar sized pipe coming from the alternator. I even adjusted the spring clip on the end of the latter to prevent it puncturing the former if I pushed it too close.

After getting it all together I noticed that the fan pulley was very close to the crankshaft pulley. Almost close enough them to be driven by teeth rather than the belt. Perhaps a previous owner replaced one of them with the wrong sized part.

Everything seems to work however although I am a bit concerned about not having a pair of exactly identical fanbelts. One is Bosch and one Gates, and I hope that they stretch similarly in use.

Thanks nevertheless for the help.

- (#13963) John, 30 Oct 04 13:05