chris00tt

Well I finally got it yesterday after I was able to borrow a second set of hands. This proved to be very difficult with only one set of hands. I tried removing the tensioner pulley, tried removing the auto tensioner, and all the other normal methods, but nothing seemed to work. With everything installed, I left the tensioner pulley loose and slide the belt barely on the camshaft pulley, water pump, and tensioner pulley. I then had someone hold the belt in place up top to keep it from slipping off. I then pulled it so that a few teeth engaged the crankshaft sprocket (still had like 3/4 inch to go before it would've fully seated and it was beyond tight at this point) and then (making sure all marks were still at TDC) I rotated the crank bolt and "walked" the belt onto the crank sprocket. It was very resistive but it went on without too much trouble this way. I tried it before by myself but it would just slip off up top due to the resistive force. I then took the square end of a block of small wood and tapped the belt into the groove so that it was fully seated and that was it. Needless to say I was overwhelmed with joy and proceeded to start it up to check the work and it was perfect.

I guess for future reference, those that are having alot of trouble should try the "walking" method like I did. As long as both the cam and crank marks are at TDC, you should be fine because the belt is engaged enough on the crank sprocket that when you start to turn it, everything will move in unison with it. Worked wonders for me, and an extra set of hands is almost essential.

I appreciate the comments guys and thanks for the motivation. Damn am I glad that is over with!

resurrecttion

fighting with it... i can't imagine how elated i'd be if i got it after a few days!

and yeah- a second set of hands is REALLY nice to have.

eTTie

Way to go! Another set of hands is all you needed.