sancarlos1

Replaced the timing belt on my 1993 ls400 and deviated from the tutorial posted here to save a little time :
remove the fan and clutch as a single unit 4 12mm nuts

did not remove the radiator only the shroud. drain the radiator and remove the upper hose, disconnect the lower hose at the thermostat housing and move to one side, avoids having to disconnect the trans cooler lines

use a vice grip chain wrench to hold the crank pulley to remove and install the bolt, protect the crank pulley surface with a section of old drive belt. not enough room for an impact wrench but plenty of room for the chain wrench

did not remove the alternator remove the mounting bolt and nut and slide the alternator forward off the mounting stud, then remove the drive belt tensioner assembly and slide the alternator back on the stud until ready to reassemble.

really helps if you have a long bench available and place each part in line with its nuts, bolts and fasteners in the order you remove them. makes sure you replace everything that was removed. avoids having to remove the crank pulley more than once to install the forgotten crank position trigger, the rubber gaskets on the plastic belt covers, or where the bolts go in the fan bracket

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Nice but I vote to just remove the radiator. It takes an extra 20 minutes and you gain lots of room.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

good initiative. there are always shortcuts to doing things but there is a reason why they are done a certain way. i would not mess with such a sensitive job like the timing belt. if a person tends to loose bolts during the timing belt process, then maybe that person shouldn't be wrenching...

i like removing the radiator too since it helps give access during removal of the water pump as well!

brybo86

Maybe if you are only doing the timing belt......
but for sure if you are changing the water pump you want to remove everything

dicer

I have learned in all my years of wrench twisting both non professional and professional, that spending 20 or so extra minutes to get something out of the way, is way better than spending 2 hours working around it. A radiator is easy to damage and is best to get it out of the way and put thick card board behind the condenser to protect it.
There are good short cuts to doing some things, but trying to take the wrong ones either cost more time or goofed up stuff. One big one is like on the tv shows were people are removing engines and transmissions together as a unit, it is so much simpler and less damaging to first remove the transmission. Unless its done like the factory and dropped down as a unit.