Tundra mods

[DaveInDenver]

Not sure but I suspect the issue is the same as the 1GR-FE, which means I'd bet dollars to donuts that it's the idler bearing(s) making noise. I thought for sure it was my alternator but it was I think the tensioner bearing in my case.

Yeah, it's not a major job. One banana for sure.

Getting them aftermarket was a lot cheaper. The kit I bought was $90 for everything, which was the belt, two idlers and one pulley for the tensioner.

It's been nearly 6 years now (so one less year than the factory parts) and it's been fine. The belt that came with mine was Dayco, but the OEM part was Gates so I figured it was close enough. The pulleys were Koyo in my kit.

It's possible rebuild these pulleys, too. The bearings just press out and in with a C-clamp or vise. It's not rocket surgery if you've rebuilt bike hubs or something like that.

 

[nakman]

Not sure but I suspect the issue is the same as the 1GR-FE, which means I'd bet dollars to donuts that it's the idler bearing(s) making noise. I thought for sure it was my alternator but it was I think the tensioner bearing in my case.

Yeah, it's not a major job. One banana for sure.

Getting them aftermarket was a lot cheaper. The kit I bought was $90 for everything, which was the belt, two idlers and one pulley for the tensioner.

It's been nearly 6 years now (so one less year than the factory parts) and it's been fine. The belt that came with mine was Dayco, but the OEM part was Gates so I figured it was close enough. The pulleys were Koyo in my kit.

It's possible rebuild these pulleys, too. The bearings just press out and in with a C-clamp or vise. It's not rocket surgery if you've rebuilt bike hubs or something like that.

Ok now you have me reconsidering just getting aftermarket and saving some $$..

 

[DaveInDenver]

Ok now you have me reconsidering just getting aftermarket and saving some $$..

Now I won't claim it's not without pitfalls. Koyo bearings are notorious for being knock-offs.

So you have to trust the source to whatever extent is possible. Mine came from a seller on eBay named asianautos who's got currently a 99.3% rating on 36,000 reviews, 172,000 transactions.

There's ways to tell if they're fake. Buying from Toyota reduces the chance of getting counterfeit parts. Not zero but very small. The parts I got in 2018 as far as I could tell were legit but it pre-dated the push by Koyo.

https://www.stopfakebearings.com/

https://koyo.jtekt.co.jp/en/2019/10/news191002.html

Back then you could tell from packaging and the etching on the bearing themselves. But since many bearings are now actually made in China they started knocking them off right on the actual factory lines. I guess what happens is the production runs long, a few "extra" end up in the bins that aren't in the normal serialization chain and skip some steps. So the quality may or may not be fine and you know no QC was done.

So do you feel lucky? What is peace of mind worth?

 

[RDub]

On the 1GR-FE in our 4 Runner I’ve replaced two idler pulleys in 281,000 miles so far. And the belt once. I found it easy to locate which pulley/bearing was bad by releasing my some tension on the belt by pushing back the tensioner and then spinning each idler by hand. I haven’t done them all due to urgency and lack or time, but I probably should have. I bought all new Toyota pulleys from Partsouq a while back and keep the stock on a shelf as needed n

 

[Inukshuk]

Option A) Take the idler off, go to Napa. Buy a bearing. Press in, press out.
Option B) Call Cruiser Outfitters for the idler pulley

 

[Telly]

Those are the parts I'd replace too for that kind of sound. I bet that cures it and even if not, replacing those parts is a good PM measure regardless.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Hey Tundra people have a question... I seem to have a pretty solid squeak coming from my serpentine belt.

So I have these three items in my cart:
View attachment 125613

According to this guy on youtube it's easy to do, and only takes an hour..

View: https://youtu.be/Abze-D3HXmE?si=GjLAqE5qrzY5s4P_


but unlike the guy on youtube, I think I'm going to buy the parts from Toyota, rather than Amazon... does this seem like the right parts list? My noise seems to be coming from the PS of the engine, near the alternator, fwiw... and it used to be a somewhat rhythmic rubbing sound, but then I squirted some belt lubricant stuff on it and made it 10x worse... I could post a video of the noise if someone thinks that's helpful

I did mine when I bought my truck as I also had some serpentine noise. I would just pull the serpentine belt off the tensioner and then spin the two pulleys to diagnose which is which.

Mine was the tensioner pulley bearing, it spun freely but did not make any scratching noises. I did the pulleys on both the idler and the tensioner, as my idler was serviceable but spun more than I felt it should. I did not replace the tensioner unit, as my truck is pretty new and I think of tensioner failure as more related to just overall age vs mileage?

According to Tundras.com Dayco was the OEM for many of the serpentine drive accessories; here is a thread detailing that. I found the parts locally at Advance Auto and took advantage of the option to order online for pickup in the store as they always have discounts for some reason if doing that. I've had zero issues with the Dayco parts and the pulleys I took off the truck shared the same PN's with the bearings. I don't know if they were done by the previous owner, but he said he exclusively went to the Toyota dealership.

[DIY] Replacing driving/serpentine/timing belt (and idler pulleys)

This will work on Tundras from 2007 and above but I did mine on my supercharged 5.7L 2014. I was experiencing a squeal coming from the engine bay and...

www.tundras.com

The belt routing on the 3UR s was the most time consuming part of the whole thing vs other Toyota motors. A wood clamp made it easier, clamped over the top of a pulley to keep the belt from slipping off the top of the motor while I aligned the bottom.

The tensioner is reverse threaded and has a little thread lock; but they are not a high torque bolt and come out easily.

 

[nakman]

The tensioner is reverse threaded and has a little thread lock; but they are not a high torque bolt and come out easily.

interesting... the comments in that video specifically said it wasn't reverse thread... I suspect I'll find out soon enough.

And my belt just got here from Stevinson... ordered on Wednesday night. I also got a call from them yesterday morning, confirming I know the air and oil filters I also ordered don't fit the same year Tundra as the belt that I ordered.... yes those are for the GX, one of those as long as I'm ordering stuff purchases. Kinda nice to get that level of service. And I'm still waiting on those pulleys I ordered from Amazon to save money... they should be here tomorrow

 

[AlpineAccess]

interesting... the comments in that video specifically said it wasn't reverse thread... I suspect I'll find out soon enough.

And my belt just got here from Stevinson... ordered on Wednesday night. I also got a call from them yesterday morning, confirming I know the air and oil filters I also ordered don't fit the same year Tundra as the belt that I ordered.... yes those are for the GX, one of those as long as I'm ordering stuff purchases. Kinda nice to get that level of service. And I'm still waiting on those pulleys I ordered from Amazon to save money... they should be here tomorrow

I could definitely be wrong as I did this last summer, but my recollection was that it has to be left hand threaded as it applies tension onto the belt "left". The tundras.com forum above also notes it is left hand thread. It obviously only comes off one way (at least without being in two pieces ). Good luck! Sounds like a nice selection of parts - getting rid of a noise from a serpentine accessory is so satisfying.

 

[nakman]

Damn it. Not only is that bolt not reverse threaded, it’s now broken off. Fml

 

[IoN6]

At least it left you a little nub!

 

[nakman]

At least it left you a little nub!

yeah. I got it out- guessing the shock of the bolt breaking knocked it loose? I was able to turn it with a vice grip 1/8 of a turn... and then the broken end was just finger tight. Wild... I thought I was gonna be super screwed here.

I was literally bending my allen wrench 20 deg trying to get this free... in both directions. I moved up to a 6mm socket adapter, which felt like finally broke it free... well it broke it alright. Anyway, time to walk to the auto store to get a new bolt.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Damn it. Not only is that bolt not reverse threaded, it’s now broken off. Fml

This bolt is not reverse threaded?

Very fortunate the rest of that allen key bolt came out! I have not removed that bolt as I didn't swap the tensioner, only the pulley.

 

[nakman]

This bolt is not reverse threaded?

View attachment 125723

Very fortunate the rest of that allen key bolt came out! I have not removed that bolt as I didn't swap the tensioner, only the pulley.

Oh that one might be, I dunno... no need to remove it as the new thing comes with that idler already installed. I thought you were talking about the allen wrench before... well now I know.

old & new tensioner.. even comes "pre pinned"

 

[nakman]

if anyone has 20 minutes to kill, I made a video showing how I did my dual battery setup...


View: https://youtu.be/M7EGisMSapo

 

[timmbuck2]

"rubbing my hands together" oooh I can't wait to buy a newer Tundra! Upgrading my trusty first gen

 

[nakman]

and in this week's episode of silly Tundra tricks, I drove to Grand Junction and back on Wednesday so Gavin and I could check out the CMU campus... there and back on 1 tank of gas. the light turned on around Georgetown on the way home, but I wasn't about to stop at that point... 505 miles, 31.6 gallons... we made some good time also. So lovin the big tank

 

[DaveInDenver]

and in this week's episode of silly Tundra tricks, I drove to Grand Junction and back on Wednesday so Gavin and I could check out the CMU campus... there and back on 1 tank of gas. the light turned on around Georgetown on the way home, but I wasn't about to stop at that point... 505 miles, 31.6 gallons... we made some good time also. So lovin the big tank

I probably saw you! Post-worthy sightings have to be pretty unique to notice. Tundras, Tacomas, 4Runners? Yawn.

What did you think of CMU?

16 MPG is awesome. I can't get that in a smaller truck driving trying not to break eggshell on the pedals.

 

[Telly]

I track mpg's closely on my 2010. I'll get 16.5 with 90% highway driving and I don't typically go much faster than 75. Drops quickly with stop/go driving mixed in. I'm hoping 18 in the warm months with better gas. None of this really matters if you elect to drive a full size truck but I'm weird like that.

 

[nakman]

I probably saw you! Post-worthy sightings have to be pretty unique to notice. Tundras, Tacomas, 4Runners? Yawn.

What did you think of CMU?

16 MPG is awesome. I can't get that in a smaller truck driving trying not to break eggshell on the pedals.

Yeah Dave I thought about reaching out but we really didn't have any time to hang out, didn't get done with the tour until 4:00 and wanted to get back at a reasonable time. Liked the campus though, a lot bigger and updated than I expected.

Doug I noticed a big hit recently with the winter gas, especially around town. Last tank before this one was in the 13's, which is like worst ever. So was glad to see I could still get it back on the highway..