T-belt question

[fast924S]

Im sure this is a stupid question but why is it so important to lock the fly wheel when doing the T-belt, I would think if you just line everything up and are carefull then you should be fine Right??? what am I missing here??
I do T-belts all day at a toyota dealer, interferience and non, 4cyl and 6cyl and we never lock the fly wheel on those.

[944 Ecology]

In the case of the 944, it has a lot to do with the amount of torque needed to loosen (and tighten) the front crankshaft bolt. 210 Nm when installed, might be 250 Nm to loosen.

gb

[TCMdocs944]

Don't need to lock the flywheel for a simple belt job. As a matter of fact, it kinda hinders getting everything just right. Some folks just like the extra insurance.

[VINMAN]

Ive always done mine without locking the flywheel , never had a prob.

[jm951]

You only need to actually lock the flywheel when removing the crank nut. Otherwise, it helps to hold the crank at TDC while you're working on it.

[mike944]

unless you have the metal lower balance belt guard on your engine (which, i think was only on the S2's and 968's, but i'm not exactly sure which engines had it) you can change the belt without removing the crank nut (which means you don't need the lock). The belt will slip in around the plastic housing.

[TCMdocs944]

Be patient when slipping the belt over the crank gears. It may not seem to fit at first but it will. Don't injure it in the process.

[Eli K]

"Don't injure it in the process."

Or yourself for that matter. While doing the belts on my '87 the torque wrench slipped, while I was trying to tighten the crank bolt, and I ended up getting hit in the head, nearly passing out and blood gushing from the eyebrow for about 4 hours....

[marko]

I'm doing the belts on my S2 now. I haven't seen this anywhere, but my S2 has an idle roller right on top of the crank sprocket that has to be removed to get the belt around the crank sprocket. The roller bolt is too close to the crank sprocket and slightly recessed so you can't get a regular wrench or socket on it. I had to go buy a 90 degree box wrench to get it off so that I wouldn't have to remove the crank sprocket.

[ronniebaldino]

Short socket worked for me. Just barely fit. I ended up cutting the rear cover under the crank pulley and now it slips right off so that I can change whatever I want without taking off the pulley. Water pump change tommorow.