Diesel Timing belt change

[WHHEMI]

New belt just arrived from DBOR, thanks for the great service guys, now to go and start pulling it apart ( I couldn't get the link to work for the manual from the other thread so will see how I go ).

[WHHEMI]

2 questions for anyone that has done this. Is the fan lh or rh thread and how did you hold it to stop it from spinning.
MM PM sent Never mind I got it in the end buy wedging a large screwdriver against it to stop it spinning. Everything is off and I can see the belt, I have rotated the engine so the bottom 2 marks line up and I have marked the inlet cam sprocket, now to work out the timming belt tensioner ( MM any tips on this ) and put new belt on. Anyone want to see pics while its apart?

[WHHEMI]

Just finnished install of new belt, wasn't half as bad as I was expecting and the tips from MM definately helped, I trimmed about 10mm of the bottom of the fan shroud and this made the install a lot easier, also must thank Bill at dbor for supplying the belt and faxing the pages explaining tensioning the timing belt. Anyone considering this yourself go for it if your confident and have done similar work before.

[davidd]

Originally Posted by MightyMouse

I don't believe the assembly is suffieicntly rigid to be cut in half as per your suggestion, but i trimmed about 5mm off the shrouds bottom which made it MUCH easier to slide up past the mechanical fan. Personallly i'd do this first next time.

read in a manual somewhere, the easiest way to get the shroud off was to remove the serpentine belt then undo the shroud. push the shroud back against the engine, exposing the fan. then remove fan and pull the shroud and fan out together. re-install was the opposite. but removing the shroud first if it's possible is certainly an easier way to go.

[davidd]

just a thought. how much would the cooling be affected if you were to cut the wide top bit off the shroud. it would leave the fan blades exposed, but make the front of the engine far more accessable. would the cooling air flow be that much affected as to be an important issue?

[MCJK]

I am very curious as to how one can perceive the life expectancy if a Timing belt tensioner let alone any pulley/bearing, this foresight is worth millions?

Is one thing to not change such an important component of an engine (each to their own) but to advice others of this as being a good thing and to play down it's importance to those not as mechanically minded.... should be frowned upon.

Does the cost of a simple component such as a Timing belt tensioner out weigh the cost of a cylinder head rebuild? If the tensioner is not changed first time around during first belt service will it make it to the next interval? only way to find out or know is if it does make it or Bang!

Timing belt tensioner failure is the primary cause for belt failure and does generate alot of $$ for workshops.

Rage away!

[MightyMouse]

The thread was started because a task that seems to be difficult or impossible for a moderately competent home mechanic and supposedly requires special tools according to the Jeep service manual, can actually be done without too much pain.

As a sub set of that the fact, cheaper timing belts can be had, at what i consider a significant saving, wether or not individuals choose to replace the belt only ( which was the case ) or the idler/ water pump seal etc etc is entirely their choice.

Even if you choose to buy a replacement idler, the savings on the belt are significant - throw in the labor savings and its attractive for a certain group of owners.

Its not a thread for the unskilled - people who even consider doing this are going to be pretty well informed mechanically and can make their own decissions as to what gets done and wether they tackle it at all.