RHKTriton wrote:Actually the worst part of the operation has been getting the fan, shroud and radiator out of the way, esp. with the extra auto plumbing.
Mate I have had many vehicles & I have always done the timing & accessory belts myself on every one. But I can understand why so many people take their Tritons to the dealer to have them done.
Yesterday I replaced the idler pulley & the alternator/water pump serpentine belt & the Air con belt & tension pulley on my MN (manual) & it is the most frustrating setup of any vehicle so far.
As you said the worst part is just being able to get to the parts you need to replace. Removing the fan shroud was not too bad (once you work out how to un-clip the bottom half first), but the bolts holding my fan must have been originally done up by a weight lifter.
The fan coupling bolts are only made from steel that has the strength of cheese too, so be careful with these. Mine would not budge & I had to resort to heating them one at a time with a small blow torch to get them out without breaking them or rounding off their heads.
Some have said that they can do it without removing anything, well you guys deserve a medal because there is just no room to do anything without removing at least the fan first. Honestly to have a comfortable amount of room you would need to remove the radiator too, but stuff doing that just to replace a couple of accessory belts. I guess it doesn't help when you have Gorilla size hands like me.
What has always been a 15 to 30 minute job on every other car I have done, ended up taking me an uncomfortable two hours on the Triton.
I would hate to have to change these belts in the bush because its a real "pita"...
And you have to remove the bash plates & turbo hoses etc, and then crawl around underneath to do it. It must be a pain doing it on an automatic with the added extra pipe work.
It has definitely made me think twice about doing the timing belt myself when it is due. Although, with the radiator, crank pulley and the rest of the crap removed I think it would be quite easy to do,, but getting there is the problem.
But thankfully it cured all the the chirping noises and I can actually hear the motor purring away again. Dam,, these things are incredibly noisy when the belts are worn, you just don't realize how much until you replace them.