2 things - one, as long as the pulley's stay in position as they were when you start the procedure and replace the belt, all should bve good yes?

Two, what's the trick to getting the new belt around all the pulley's - it is sooo tight? It looks like removeing the idler pulley may be the trick.

Been working on this project allweekend, please help, thanks. Wife's car, gotta get it done!

Are you aligning the marks on the belt with the marks on the pulleys? You're supposed to take the tensioner off and put it in a vise and push the end back in and the put a pin in the tensioner to hold it. Then you bolt the tensioner back in, put the belt on, and release the pin. That's when you get your tension. You should be replacing your tensioner as that's the weak spot in your timing belt system, the new one will already be pushed back and have a pin in place.

I have a new tensioner, but have not reached that step yet. As far as the marks go, that's one of my questions/comments - the belt is the same all around so it really does not matter where you install it as long as the pulleys's are all in position such that the timing is right, i.e., they were fine when I stopped the engine to begin this project so no change there means my timing is still intact.

I was able to get the belt on by removing the idler pulley and reinstalling it - I did line up the marks just ot make sure I had all the ribs in the right grooves, if that makes sense to you.

Thank you for responding.

Yes, if you haven't rotated the pulleys, and line up the marks, everything should be fine.

I don't remember the belt being too tight when we did the Tacoma ( http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/timing_belt/ ) but since then I have heard this from other owners. They dealt with it by removing an idler pulley as you suggested.
Good Luck! It's always risky working on the Wife's stuff <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Thanks again Mark - I relaized today I needed the vehicle in nuetral to turn the crank, dah!?!?! I missed that I'm afraid - I would suggest adding it to the procedure for those of us a little slow on the uptake!