Do I need to remove the camshaft pulleys?

[NorcalCamper]

A friend is helping me replace a blown head gasket on my 94' pickup's 3.0L V6. The manual says to remove the rear timing cover but there appears to be no way to do this without first removing the camshaft pulleys. If this is the case, how do you remove them without damaging them. We don't have an impact gun I'm afraid and we're afraid to try to hold the pulleys with anything while wrenching by hand for fear of damaging them. Any advice? Attached are some pictures.

 

[NorcalCamper]

Not a lot of traffic here I guess

Although I got no help from anyone on this thread, I'll still follow up on my progress so hopefully it will help someone else doing the same thing. I've learned that the camshaft pulleys do need to come off in order to remove the rear timing belt cover. The problem comes when you try to keep the pulleys from turning when you attempt to back out the pulley bolt. Apparently there is a special tool made to hold them from turning, but Toyota is not about to loan it out to you. I found that if you remove the valve covers you will see that each camshaft has a hex section on it that will accept a 27mm open end wrench which will allow you to hold the shaft in place while turning the bolt. I couldn't find a 27mm wrench but found that a 1-1/16th inch wrench was the same size. These bolts are extremely tight. Attempts to break them free with both an air and an electric impact gun were unsuccessful. This is a good time to let you know that these are standard threads(lefty loosy) You may question that like I did when you put ridiculous torque on them and find that they don't move. What finally worked was to use the 1-1/16th inch open end wrench on the camshaft chained to the engine stand to prevent rotation. Then, I used a 1/2" breaker bar on the pulley bolt with a 4 foot breaker bar and really put some muscle into it. The bolts finally came out after that. Don't try using a crescent wrench as a backup on the camshaft. Ask me how I know. Hope this helps. This info would have saved me a couple of hours of frustration.

 

[gladden]

Well I think the pics really did helped.. Thanks NorcalCamper for that lengthy explanation.

 

[TruckRider]

Although I got no help from anyone on this thread, I'll still follow up on my progress so hopefully it will help someone else doing the same thing. I've learned that the camshaft pulleys do need to come off in order to remove the rear timing belt cover. The problem comes when you try to keep the pulleys from turning when you attempt to back out the pulley bolt. Apparently there is a special tool made to hold them from turning, but Toyota is not about to loan it out to you. I found that if you remove the valve covers you will see that each camshaft has a hex section on it that will accept a 27mm open end wrench which will allow you to hold the shaft in place while turning the bolt. I couldn't find a 27mm wrench but found that a 1-1/16th inch wrench was the same size. These bolts are extremely tight. Attempts to break them free with both an air and an electric impact gun were unsuccessful. This is a good time to let you know that these are standard threads(lefty loosy) You may question that like I did when you put ridiculous torque on them and find that they don't move. What finally worked was to use the 1-1/16th inch open end wrench on the camshaft chained to the engine stand to prevent rotation. Then, I used a 1/2" breaker bar on the pulley bolt with a 4 foot breaker bar and really put some muscle into it. The bolts finally came out after that. Don't try using a crescent wrench as a backup on the camshaft. Ask me how I know. Hope this helps. This info would have saved me a couple of hours of frustration.

Great info thanks for sharing, Hows the car 94' pickup's 3.0L V6 going on?