Spanner Wrench For Timing Belt Needed ?

[lexus400]

Guys, I'm doing a TB and water pump on a '96 ES 300. The manual references a "spanner wrench" to remove the cam pulleys. Do I need one to do the job or can

I hold it in place with something else ? I have an impact gun for removal so I probably only need to hold for a second. I don't want to take off the valve covers..

If it's an absolute requirement can I buy one at the dealer ?

thanks,

Bob

[mehullica]

Leave the t/belt on and hold the crank pulley with a chain wrench or breaker bar against the floor. The use a breaker bar to loosen the cam bolts. Then tear down the rest.

[lexus400]

execellent, thanks ! I would buy the tool but knew that I probably wouldn't get it quick enough....

[sunman]

I have seen people use chain wrenches. Not sure if that will do any harm. I have the spanner wrench myself. It fits into the sprockets of the cam pulley. To remove the crank belt pulley, you will need a puller set.

[92Lex]

Can't you just do the whole job without removing the cam pulleys? I'm not sure about the ES, but when I did the timing belt on my LS the manual said I needed to remove the cam pulleys, but I just left them on because it wasn't necessary. Are you planning on replacing the seals or something?

[lexus400]

good point.... that's what the manual calls for but maybe I can just

leave them on. Wouldn't that be true for the crank pulley as well if

I'm not replacing the crank seal ?

[jhauck]

You will need to pull your camshaft sprockets if your planning on changing your water pump.

I just did my timing belt on my wifes '97 ES300 and the back timing belt cover (#3) lies behind the camshaft sprockets. The upper one inch or so of the water pump is covered by this back cover (see my attached photo). The water pump must slide off on two studs, so must come straight out, which is impossible with the cover left in place.

I could not loosen the camshaft sprocket bolt, despite a 3 foot breaker bar. I finally gave up on the water pump. I'd be curious to hear if it works by leaving the T-belt in place while loosening these bolts......sounds like something worth trying.

I do agree with a previous post that the cover should have been modified to not cover the upper part of the water pump.

As bad as it sounds, I was tempted to take a dremel and cutter tool and "modify" my cover by cutting off the portion that covers the water pump. I changed my mind, but would be curious if anyone has ever done this.

P.S. If you have problems removing the crankshaft pulley bolt (which I did), you may have to use the "starter trick" (which I did with great success).

Good luck.

Jeff Hauck

Gresham, OR.

[jhauck]

You will need to pull your camshaft sprockets if your planning on changing your water pump.

I just did my timing belt on my wifes '97 ES300 and the back timing belt cover (#3) lies behind the camshaft sprockets. The upper one inch or so of the water pump is covered by this back cover. The water pump must slide off on two studs, so must come straight out, which is impossible with the cover left in place.

[92Lex]

There's a cam lock tool made by Lisle which will aid in holding those sprockets in place...sells for $30.

[sunman]

I got the snap on cam holding tool. It worked fine for me. The lisle one is probably cheaper and equally good. The only time you need to remove the cam pully is to change the pump. After 150,000 miles on my dad's ES, the pump was still great! The pump impeller is made of plastic so it doesn't rust out.

[lexus400]

Great, thanks guys this is excellent feedback... "92Lex" is it Lisle tool

# 36880 - cam lock tool ? Can you confirm that this is what you used

here - http://www.lislecorp.com/tool_detail.cfm?detail=552. If that's it, I should be able to get that locally in a day or so. The cam pulleys look like they need to be pretty close together but maybe that's just the picture.

Bob

[92Lex]

#38220 is the part number, it looks similar to the spanner wrench. You should be able to get this at your local autoparts store also.

#36880 will work well on Honda's and Acura's but the cam sprockets on your car are spaced too far apart for that tool to work.

Hey sunman, you know some of those tools you could get from MAC and Snap-On are the exact same ones you could pick up from Kragens and Pep Boys right? I own a bunch of Snap-On stuff and I found out later that some of the products that Snap-On and MAC sell are available at Kragens for about 1/4 of the price...they are made by the same company.

[monarch]

Hey sunman, you know some of those tools you could get from MAC and Snap-On are the exact same ones you could pick up from Kragens and Pep Boys right? I own a bunch of Snap-On stuff and I found out later that some of the products that Snap-On and MAC sell are available at Kragens for about 1/4 of the price...they are made by the same company.

←

I have not had good luck getting specialty tools from Kragen. Example: Kragen carrys the Powerbuilt Brand of automotive tools, but even when I provided Kragen with the exact part number for the Powerbuilt Toyota Valve Adjusting Shim Removal & Installation Toolkit, Kragen was unable to special order it.

[lexus400]

Thanks for checking.... I would have ordered the wrong one. I should have the

38220 here tomorrow. One last question for you guys.. If I use the tool to lock

one of the cams, do you think I can loosen the crank bolt with my impact gun ?

Same theory I had before, which is use the timing belt to lock everything in place while I break the bolt free. Jeff, did you try an impact gun before you used the starter method ? Someone mentioned removing the starter and using a prybar to lock the flywheel when using a gun. Maybe the starter method is the easiest. I do have the Ingersall Rand gun which puts out about 600lbs in reverse so I'm confident it'll come off (famous last words written here).

Bob

[92Lex]

ATD, Nesco & KD Tools have some of the exact same things I can get off the Snap-On and MAC trucks. I'm not saying everything should be bought from your local autoparts store, but there are some products that you would be able to save money on by doing so.

Your theory should work if you're able to hold everything still. I broke the crankshaft pulley bolt free by using the starter method though. There's this tool called a spark plug piston lock made by LTI Tools...part# LTI 865. Use that tool and you shouldn't have a problem trying to get the crankshaft pulley bolt back on.

[jhauck]

I did not try an impact wrench as I don't own one.

But, see the link below.

I was sent to this link in regards to the bolt being next to impossible to loosen, and read of many who had used impact wrenches rated at 1000 lbs without luck.

I was a little unsure of using my starter, but it worked great.

One word of caution if you try this: You might want to ensure your ignition system is disabled as you don't want the engine to actually start. I didn't do this, but it wasn't a problem as it only took one very quick click of the starter to loosen the bolt.

Good luck.

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143221

Jeff Hauck

Gresham, OR.